I’ve been known to refer to social media as antisocial media, so you might wonder what I think is the worst thing about it. Online bullying? The relentless self-promotion? (Buy my book! Buy my service!) People tagging you or adding you to lists without asking permission?
Nah. It’s the exclamation points. For my British friends and followers, exclamation marks.
Okay, I’m not really serious, but you have to admit: as a writer, editor, or proofreader, you could spend your whole life hearing, “Avoid exclamation points,” and then to see them everywhere could drive you crazy.
Take Facebook. I looked at my notifications today and the first one said, “Art Freen and Janie Doe have birthdays today. Wish them well!” Do I really need Facebook yelling at me to wish my friends a happy birthday? (And no, those are not my real friends’ names. Heck, I think I stole “Art Freen” from a Don Martin cartoon circa 1971.)
Of course, you know what happens next. I click in the appropriate box and yell, “Happy birthday, Art!” What other choice do I have?
Even on Twitter?
Twitter is my favorite social platform, because I’ve been able to build up a large following and engage with many other writers and readers. But in some ways, it’s even worse there. Just a quick scroll through my feed this morning yields these exclamation gems: “Coming soon!” “Thanks for the follow!” And, my personal favorite for today, “[Book name redacted] quite emotionally charged!”
It’s enough to make a guy want to post that little smiley face who’s laughing so hard he’s crying.
Ultimately, it becomes a zero sum game, an if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them deal, where you have to use the dreaded exclamation point just to appear friendly.
It’s fine on social media, I guess, but it starts to become worrisome when it migrates to business correspondence. Here’s where I have to use my best judgment. When the cool millennial from my favorite client’s office sends me email – and it starts with “Hey Mike!” and ends with “Let me know what you think!” – I can probably get away with “Thanks!” or “I’ll put it on the schedule!”
But for someone I don’t know, who might not be casual in their correspondence, no way. NO exclamation points, unless they fire first. And even then, only in moderation.
What do you think? Comment below! (Oops. Sorry about that. Really!)
Call me a fuddy-duddy if you want — you won’t be the first — but I refuse to give in to the social pressures of social media. I will not throw my exclamation points and superlatives around all willy-nilly. I will not abbreviate, or use emoticons, or blow off grammar and spelling. I’m old school, so old that Noah was a classmate. Maybe this is how I stand out. So take that! (Oops…)
Hi Michael. Thanks for your post! (Oh no, I used an exclamation point already.) Yeah, I hear ya. I think of social media posts as being more like general conversation amongst people, whereas other venues or forums are more likely to have formal rules. Best case scenario, you look like an adult; worst case scenario, someone might think you are a little stuffy. No big deal.
The one thing I would say is that, if you’re not caving in to the social pressures re: superlatives and punctuation, you might have to resist the temptation to “go long” and post things that simply won’t get read. People on social media seem to have increasingly short attention spans, so you might actually end up getting flamed, as they used to say a while back (“Wow, dude, you really wrote a book here! LOL”). No fun for you.
Anyhow, thanks for stopping by, and I, for one, will not be calling you a fuddy-duddy.
I recently had a customer tell me in an email “f/u w/u l8r.” Apparently I have a saltier vocabulary than he does, but I figured out that “f/u” means “follow up,” so it seems this old dog can still learn a new trick or two.
I was going to post LOL just for fun, but I think I’ll stick with Bwahahahahahah!