I’ll take “Great Characters in American Literature” for $500 Alex. On second thought no I won’t. Ralphie’s “old Man” looked flabbergasted when his wife knew the answer to one of his “silly puzzles” and told him everybody knew that answer.
Just because you think you have the obvious answer/explanation/description etc., does not mean that everyone in your audience will know what you are speaking about.
Buzzwords/Tech Speak –
There is a big difference between speaking to a potential client and giving a keynote speech at a trade show. When you are writing for a manual, a blog, a presentation, a sales pitch, etc. you need to think first about your audience. What type of person are you talking to? Do you need to get in-depth about “attribution”, “social signals” and “conversion rate optimization” when you are speaking to a small non-profit who just wants to start a basic social presence? On the contrary, you would not want to have your audience thinking you “dumbed it down” or are being condescending in any way.
Hashtags –
I included this one because it is one of my pet peeves. Before you jump on me for saying that, I admit it. I am an absolute hashtag abuser…. in Twitter, and only in Twitter. For those of you who don’t know, hashtags (#) used in Twitter primarily in a keyword or search capacity. Anything marked with a hashtagged word is linked and you can pull up a string of those tweets in live time .They can be used for a to organize the conversations in a chat or webinar (#KTCO #cmgrchat), to prepare for an upcoming event (#ungeeked, #SXSW) or a way for a circle of friends to carry on a discussion #bbhill #spoonie) Hashtags are also used for a fun way to “mark” a post giving it a little extra oomph (#facepalm #fail).The problem arises when people start using them in other formats. When people use a hashtag in other channels where people don’t understand the point behind them it can get bothersome. I have done this time to time if I was making a point or trying to be funny. Keep them on Twitter where they are of use to us all. You have to love a little “do as I say not as I do”.
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