Actually got some real work done on the #handwrittentweets site that I’ve been contemplating since last summer. Here’s a sneak preview (at least of the background). Click the thumbnail on the left to get the full size

I do not know exactly when it clicked in my mind or what sparked it all, but as I was sitting at my day job, the idea of writing out tweets by hand came to me. I sat there rolling it around in my head and it came to me that people would be able to write beyond twitter’s 140 character limit with variable readability depending on clear legible writing. With the wide proliferation of cell phones containing built in cameras, as well as many photo services being tied to twitter already, there is an extremely low entry requirement for handwritten tweets.

There are likely still many of you asking and wondering why someone may want to go through all the effort. As I have already stated above, if you have something to say that requires more than 140 characters, you can get it all in one tweet. Obviously, creating one by hand would require more time and effort than typing it through the site or your favorite twitter client, but imagine the joy someone will experience when they get a handwritten message directed at them. I know my first @mention, directed at emtaylor (Twitter), made her day.

Writing it out on a piece of paper and then posting a picture of it, also provides a broad canvas that allows for creativity to flourish. You can draw little doodles, provide decorations, or anything else you can think of. I KNOW twitter is full of creative types and I don’t see why we can’t show that off more.

Just because you write out the actual message on paper or some other medium, doesn’t mean you can’t use your allotted 140 characters. Some of them would be used for the image URL, but the rest can be used for more @mentions and #tags.

I know well enough that any idea or trend that grows online is very hard to control, if not impossible to. That said, I am not setting any “method of use” for handwritten tweets, just explaining the origin and some uses that have already come to mind. I don’t know where the idea will go, if anywhere, but I would love to see it go somewhere.

Be inventive, be creative, make someone’s day, pay it forward…do SOMETHING.

Handwrittentweets examples

• gracesmith (Twitter) sent this one to all of her followers here
• domencolja (Twitter) did this one as an alternative to dribbble as he lacks an account here
• designcoyote (Twitter) sent this one quoting Judy Garland here
• rudedoodle (Twitter) asked this good question here

What about yours?