#acwri: tweeting academic writing

I’ve recently discovered something in Twitter: people use the social media not only to share links to interesting stuff, to discuss with other people or to comment on anything and everything: they also use it to talk about academic writing. A growing number of people are adding the hashtag #acwri to  their tweets when they are talking about academic writing.

Based on my at home and non scientific inquiry into the use of this hashtag, I’ve discovered that mainly four kind of tweets use it:

1. Tweets about actual writing which describe the trials and tribulations, but also the pleasures of the daily practice of writing: the number of words written during the day, the difficulties of getting to writing, their habits, how they are feeling while writing;
2. Tweets containing a link to material to read on writing – blog articles with tips, longer articles or even links to books; I did find one very interesting article on clarity in academic writing while doing the screenshot above (I’ll get back to this article form the Times Higher Education soon);
3. Tweets that are part of ongoing exchanges or live-tweets (a focused event running for a limited time, like 60 minutes, where everybody is free to join the conversation by adding a specific hashtag);
4. And finally, tweets about academic writing seminars, given either by universities or by writing coaches.

What I find particularly interesting is how Twitter, through the use of hashtags, is allowing people to share details about their experience of writing, in the present tense. Each of these tweets does not say much more than the 140 characters limit of Twitter; but when these tweets are read one after another, I find that you get a pretty accurate overview of all the emotional tonalities that come with writing – from discouragement to satisfaction, from discomfort to joy, from boredom to excitement…