A Bright Future for Text

"At Microsoft, e-mail is the medium of choice, more than phone calls, documents, blogs, bulletin boards, or even meetings …"

--Bill Gates

When I meet with clients to go over copy points for a new white paper, web page, or other writing project, I'm still amazed when someone says to keep it short. After all, no one reads the text anyway (advice usually followed by an apology to the writer in the room). Information overload, rich media, and just the general busyness of everyday life have put a premium on the time spent actually reading text.

These are often the same people who would rather rely on text for doing day-to-day work. They avoid face-to-face meetings in favor of emails, written answers to interviews, and -- yes -- texting. Text lets them suck in information faster than a live meeting or a phone call would. People read faster than they listen, and text is organized (to some degree anyway) for greater impact versus freeform conversation.

There's been more text about text recently since Bill Gates published a Fortune article about his work process -- in which he said Microsoft's preferred mode of employee interaction is email. Several bloggers have responded, including Brent Edwards who makes a good point when he writes today that people only get a fraction of what they hear and even less of what they read.

That's why I like to digitally record my interviews for writing projects. When you listen afterwards, you can hear where people routinely talk "past" each other without even realizing it. Email is even harder. You can spend an hour writing a few sentences in an email just so what you say won't be misinterpreted on the receiving end. What might go over perfectly well in a face-to-face conversation (within the context of body language) can really set someone off in an email.

I think text versus no text is a false issue. I think what matters is the level of craft employed either way. In the right hands, any form of communication can be both powerful and efficient.