This is not a political blog and not a political statement. This is in no way a condemnation of Caroline Kennedy. This is a warning from someone who cares about communicators.
If you want to be taken seriously as a communicator, banish the sophomoric, useless words "Like" and "you know" from your vocabulary.
Those words do nothing but distract from your message and add to the mistaken perception that you still might be hanging with the middle school gang.
All other considerations aside, Caroline Kennedy's run for office was in no small part derailed by.... you know... her.... you know... inability to communicate like an adult.
In the above video, that runs about 150 seconds, Ms Kennedy used the words "you know" 30 times. If my math is right, that's about once every 5 seconds. The only time such communication would be valuable in the senate would be during a filibuster.
I rode with a college graduate being considered for a position on our team. I asked him to tell me why he wanted to work with us. Before he stopped talking he had used the word "like" 51 times. Yes, I counted. How do you.. like.. tell someone that.. like.. language.. like.. counts.
In our Dynamic Communicators Workshop we remind people that silence is golden. It is much more affective to pause and silently think about your next words than to fill that time with worthless sound. Whether you are a teenager or an adult, I encourage you to do as we do in our workshop. Occasionally record yourself speaking. Listen to yourself, and relentlessly remove the weeds from your vocabulary. You will be taken more seriously and you might get the job.
How to twitter without being a twit!
Seriously, to my Christian family I say that we dare not summarily dismiss today's social media. Years ago we turned our backs on much of the arts and now we rue what has happened to them. So......
Here are four rules for using twitter taken from an excellent Christianity Today article.

Five Tweeting Tips
(1) You are what you tweet. Are you an encourager, a humorist, a businessperson, a pastor — a complainer? People will know.
(2) Craft your words. This may be instant publishing, but it's still publishing. Your words will last longer than you will.
(3) No cheating. Say it all in 140 characters. Don't use a second tweet to continue your point.
(4) Don't answer Twitter's standard question, “what are you doing?” Rather than your flight plan, nap schedule, or lunch menu, say something that will benefit others.
(5) Don't overtweet. If people quit replying to you, it may be because they can’t keep up.
Please read the entire article here. It is very thought provoking and gives insight into the power of the tweet, even to save lives.
If you decide to twitter. Please DO NOT twitpic me any pictures of your food.
Posted at 03:03 PM in Commentary | Permalink | Comments (5)
Tags: blogging, social media, texting, twitter