What you’re holding in your hands is a set of guidelines. A collection of protocols which describe an approach to another protocol, something we call Twitter.

The amazing thing about this particular protocol is that it’s being defined daily. By you. Twitter was inspired by the concepts of immediacy, transparency, and approachability, and created by the guiding principles of simplicity, constraint, and craftsmanship. We started small. We built something out of love and a desire to see it flourish throughout the world. We defined a mere 1 percent of what Twitter is today. The remaining 99 percent has been, and will continue to be, created by the millions of people who make this medium their own, tweet by tweet.

I leave you now in the capable hands of a documentarian, storyteller, and practitioner of a new protocol of communication. Listen, learn, and most importantly, define it for yourself.

-Jack Dorsey Creator, Co-founder, and Chairman of Twitter, Inc.
San Francisco

Foreword to the book 140 Characters: A style guide for the short form (2009, Wiley). Available wherever books are sold, and on iTunes App Store.

The following is an excerpt from 140 Characters, page 9.

There’s the story you wanna tell, and the story a reporter wants to hear, and somewhere in between is the story that gets told.

-@realizing

Real reporting can take place within social networks. There are two key principles to remember.

First: Public Twitter and Facebook updates are a part of the permanent record, and all searchable content is fair game for journalists.

Second: A direct relationship with your social sphere is fundamental; keep it independent of the media outlet that employs you.

Keep your professional identity as a reporter independent and portable because jobs can come and go. You will want to retain your readers during times of change.

Additional caveats apply to journalism. This list is not comprehensive, but is rooted in experience with corporate blogging and investigative reporting.

Ten tips, in order of importance:

1. Own your smartphone and a great set of mobile apps.
2. Determine your employer’s social networking policy. If they don’t have one, write up a policy of your own and submit it.
3. Check sources and attribute-[shakes fist] check sources!
4. Think twice before posting: once for your source and once for your editor.
5. One drunken, angry tweet could ruin you.
   

   some things can’t be said in under 140 characters. especially after some champagne.

   -@jack

6. Jokes can almost always be taken the wrong way; expect this.
7. Never discuss a story before its time, or tweet about something before it happens.
8. Be as clear as possible with your sources about when you expect your story to post so they know when and how to promote it.
9. Avoid writing about colleagues or the workplace.
10. Follow other journalists: @jennydeluxe, @michaelbfarrell, @mat, and the rest.

“Oh look, I sent you a link.” “Oh, I sent you a link, too.” “That’s great, we’re journalists!”

-@mantia

You think you want to be a Twitter journalist? You’ll need to check your facts, provide a truly unique perspective, and most of all lead with action. Do this with fairness, accuracy, and more than a single source, and you will always have a job.

Excerpt from 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form, page 18.

How many microscopic adjustments are made to a sculpture before it is complete? How many stitches go into a fine garment? This is the level of awareness you must achieve: down to the individual character.

!
-case

Judge your simplicity by skimming your words.

Your readers will skim it. They will misunderstand it. They will even repost it, having skimmed it and misunderstood it. Expect this, plan for it, optimize for it.

Get ready to say it once. Or, get ready to say it wrong, delete and repost really quickly. If you’re lucky, no one will notice your mistake except the search engine. Limit yourself even further than the constraint requires, and then having the extra freedom will seem like a luxury.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Co-creator of Twitter Dom Sagolla releases 140 Characters for iPhone and iPod touch, a new form of hypertext book continuously updated with fresh content.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA: 140 Characters, A Style Guide for the Short Form has been released worldwide via the iTunes App Store. Distinctly different from the Kindle edition, the text has been updated and expanded with an additional chapter and exclusive multimedia features.

• Regular updates to the Hypertext Book, with In-App Browser.
• Read-only Twitter client with hooks into the mobile version of Twitter.com.
• Comments and Copy/Paste throughout.

Read the work as it was originally intended, as a companion to the text edition published by John Wiley & Sons.

See a brief demonstration of the App.

140 Characters demo from Dom Sagolla on Vimeo.

Press Resources for the App

press@140characters.com
415-287-7775
http://140characters.com

In 140 Characters or less, the App:

The Full Mention
@Dom’s @BookApp 140 Characters for iPhone & iPod touch, a hypertext book continuously updated with fresh content. http://j.mp/140-t

The Big Mention
@Dom’s @BookApp 140 Characters for iPhone & iPod touch. http://j.mp/140-t

The Short Mention
@BookApp 140 Characters for iPhone. http://j.mp/140-t

The Tiny Mention
@Dom’s @BookApp http://j.mp/140-t

The Nano Mention
@BookApp http://j.mp/140-t

The Landing Page
http://dom.net/1

Facts.

Shipped: November 18, 2009.
Publisher: DollarApp
Rating: 9+

The App icon code.

<a href=”http://j.mp/140-web” title=”140 Characters App Icon by Sagolla, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/3988595268_ea3b582f88_t.jpg” width=”100″ height=”100″ alt=”140 Characters App Icon” /></a>

Press Resources for the Book

Same as for the App, except:

The Full Mention
@thebook by @Dom Sagolla. 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form. http://j.mp/140-chars

The Big Mention
@thebook by @Dom Sagolla. 140 Characters http://j.mp/140-chars

The Short Mention
@thebook 140 Characters by @Dom http://j.mp/140-chars

The Tiny Mention
@thebook by @Dom http://j.mp/140-chars

The Nano Mention
@thebook http://j.mp/140-chars

The Amazon
http://j.mp/140-chars

The Borders
http://j.mp/140-chbo

The B&N
http://j.mp/140-chbn

The List
http://j.mp/140-list

Facts.

Ship Date: October 12, 2009.
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 0470556137

The book jacket code.

<a href=”http://j.mp/140-chars” title=”140 Characters in 3D by Sagolla, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2440/4009911664_f49ae378a1_m.jpg” width=”175″ height=”240″ alt=”140 Characters in 3D” /></a>

Thanks for blogging, linking, tweeting, emailing, and generally promoting this work.

Catch an early glimpse at the Recommended Reading section of 140 Characters over on Amazon’s Listmania:

Mastering Social Media

This list contains books listed at the back of 140 Characters, as well as a few extras I’ve added since sending the book to print.