#tweetsmart

Chapter 6. Twitter Haiku

Tweet this Project

Haiku! The ancient form of poetry that has thrilled 8- and 80-year-olds for centuries has found a new fan base on one of the world’s newest communication platforms. Haiku’s short format has made haiku the poetry of choice for folks limited to only 140 characters.

Haiku, as you may know, is a form of poem consisting of three lines with 17 total syllables, in a 5/7/5 syllable configuration. These strict rules make writing good haiku wickedly hard. But, it also makes writing bad haiku wonderfully fun. Tossing around topic-based haikus is the perfect Twitter pastime, and it’s a great intellectual exercise with which to challenge your brilliant Twitter community.

To get started with this project, first define your hashtag. It should be a word or short phrase that is easily recognizable to your audience, followed by the word ‘haiku.’

For example, if your business is selling ugly Christmas sweaters to the seasonally jovial, you could use the hashtag: #uglyxmassweaterhaiku. Or, if you run a pet store, you could appeal to the common experiences of pet owners: #whenmydogwasapuppyhaiku. Or, maybe you run an airline: #thingsnottodowhileflyinghaiku. Try to find a fun theme for your haiku project that will encourage your followers to play along.

Once you’ve chosen your theme, write up a quick blog post explaining the concept to your audience—as this type of Twitter interaction may be new to them—and offer up a sample haiku.

Let say, for ...