Twitter As a Lesson in Finality

If you’ve written for print, you know about finality. When the final proofs are approved for a book, it really is the that’s-it no-looking-back kind of final. That’s what the public will see. It is the same thing when a newspaper is put to bed. If you don’t write for print, you still might write on Twitter, which is based on a streamlined platform that has some of the same finality. There is no sense in feeling regret when your misspelled words are retweeted — they will have to serve, because it is too late to fix them. But on the other hand, it is good to recognize those moments when you are in no condition to tweet. In Twitter, as in any medium, you can only share the moment you are in, but some moments have more value to offer than others.