Grammar mistakes happen in everyday life, but once published over the web by social media platforms, such mistakes last forever.
"Maybe part of what's happening here is that Twitter is revealing the fact that a lot of people's writing skills are not really what they should be," said Carrie Brown, journalism professor and social media guru. "There are folks that could stand to brush up on their writing."
People tend to use Twitter and other social media sites for either professional or personal reasons. The way they present themselves varies, though sometimes is a complete departure from the user in real life.
Brown interviewed students earlier this year for a study on how they use Twitter, and many said that they were using the service simply to communicate with friends.
"I think there's a whole subset of the population that is using Twitter like group text messaging almost where they're basically just talking to their friends," she said. "They're sharing real casual, informal stuff."
Brown said students should practice better grammar because these sites are a public forum, which employers can and have viewed in the hiring process.
Every tweet posted since the site began in 2006 has been archived in the Library of Congress' digital archive, as well.
Kris Markman, communication assistant professor, said she doesn't know if there is a whole lot of research on the grammar and language of social media sites, but understands why people may text the way they do.
"You can't make 140 characters without shortening and abbreviating certain words, like using numbers instead of words," Markman said. "You change the words so you can get across a basic idea."
Markman said Twitter is a relatively new site that people are using as a way of informal communication, but people need to think before they click the share button.
"The most important thing is nothing ever dies on the Internet. Once you put it out there it will be out there – forever and ever," she said.
Richard Bausch, English professor, said whenever you're talking about the English language and how people use it, it's all a matter of context.
"If I don't understand it then I ask them to translate it," he said.
Bausch said he doesn't think the English language is at risk of turning into a shorthand, text-based language.
"Language is always changing and when it stops changing it dies," he said.
Marcus Matthews, Teen Appeal coordinator, uses social media sites daily and said he thinks people don't realize how wide their audience is.
"I've been approached by people I don't know," Matthews said. "And they know about me and they know about what I do publicly."
Matthews, who wrote the book "I Am Not The Father," said that he, too, sometimes takes liberties with grammar on sites like Twitter, but that his body of work represents his capabilities as a writer.
"(Users) don't have an avenue that shows they have mastered the standard language over these sites," he said. "People just don't understand their slang. There's a bunch of different ways to say ‘money', but we all know money."
Matthews said you have to know when using poor grammar and explicit content is appropriate.
"The content of some posts is really an issue," he said. "Like if you're posting naked pics, pics of drug paraphernalia or abusing drugs —that is definitely without any doubt detrimental."
