While Twitter has become a wildly popular new means of communication, it has not been without its critics. Questions like, “What can we say that is meaningful in 140 characters?” and “What are we losing by keeping our social interactions so brief?” have abounded since Twitter’s inception. The value of brevity, however, is not a new concept. In the late 19th and early 20th century, one of the most efficient ways to transmit important information rapidly over great distances was the telegram.
Telegram authors had an incentive to be brief – most telegram companies charged per word. As a result, authors took some common shortcuts used in the Twitterverse such as dropping pronouns and articles and using abbreviations and code words to maximize information and minimize characters. So forced brevity in communications isn’t really a new concept at all. In fact, telegrams were often used to convey life-changing news-births, deaths, war, and peace-in as few words as possible. Imagine finding out that a loved one has died in a Tweet, or worse, receiving a telegram of import redacted to the point of ambiguity. From that perspective, the criticisms of Twitter seem unnecessary, or at least, unoriginal.
In light of their similarities, I have taken the liberty to translate some famous telegrams into TweetSpeak.
Samuel Morse
Telegram: What hath God wrought?
Tweet: OMG, WTF?!?
Mark Twain
Telegram: The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
Twitter: totally still alive! #YOLO
William Randolph Hearst
Telegram: You furnish the pictures, and I’ll furnish the war.
Tweet: Post pix to ur instagram and Ill take it from there
Wright Brothers
Telegram: Successful four flights Thursday morning.
Tweet: w00t! Successful flight! No pix though, had to turn off phone in the air. 😦
Bruce Ismay, Officer on the SS Carpathia
Telegram: Deeply regret advise your Titanic sunk this morning fifteenth after collision iceberg resulting serious loss life further particulars later. Bruce Ismay.
Tweet: unsinkable ship sank. #irony
bart ingraldi said:
We should also add emails are the new postcards. Very good post.
Thanks,
Bart
Katherine said:
Thanks!
textonym said:
lol. wonder what would have been “one small step for man, giant leap for mankind” would it be “landed on moon yey! #moon”
Katherine said:
I’m glad the Apollo astronauts didn’t have Twitter, actually!
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theblackboardstory said:
Reblogged this on The Blackboard Story and commented:
#Tweet
#KOT
gypsymamakas said:
Reblogged this on The Oracle of Grooviness and commented:
Totally dug this post! “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Katherine said:
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
Cathy said:
Not only were telegrams concise like twitter, the operators also used the telegraph to talk to other operators – of course this was on the sly as it was against policy.
Katherine said:
Interesting – I didn’t know that. Thanks for sharing!
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mrcallaghan95 said:
Personally i didnt realise quite how similar these two actually were until i read this! I have always had to use abbreviations in communication mainly for Twitter or to simply fit all the information into one text on my phone! Its weird to think how long this has been happening for!
Katherine said:
Sometimes I wish Twitter had a code book like telegrams did because I have a hard time keeping up with what all the abbreviations and hash-tags mean.
OneWeekToCrazy said:
Wow, this is really hilarious! Definitely tweeting this…love the irony, huh?! Plus, I had never put together the similarity between twitter and telegram…smart discovery!
Katherine said:
Thank you very much!
waleed25 said:
Reblogged this on waleed25.
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electricbohemian said:
I prefer the telegram it shows that you can still use beautiful language and get you’re point across
Katherine said:
But I see no reason why one shouldn’t or couldn’t use beautiful language in a tweet.
mjaldon said:
Thank you for your insight. I have struggled with twitter and all the attention it gets when we are socially together face to face. Now, I realize, this concept of being brief is nothing new in society.
Katherine said:
I do not blame you for struggling with the interference of Twitter with face to face social interaction. The telegram was no substitute for a real chat and neither is Twitter IMO.
mjaldon said:
Thank you!
Follow The Eaten Path said:
Very funny and cute, with a few morsels of home-truths as well! Nice post!
Katherine said:
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the post.
Jann @ Austin Details Art + Photo said:
Absolutely fabulous, clever and LOL. My parents announced my birth to relatives via telegram–I have it, and it’s one of my prized possessions. Hmmmmnnn, how will tweets survive to the next generation?
SabineLr said:
Reblogged this on My Blog.
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