When we first started thinking about Talkonomy and the idea to share and connect ideas, the first question to hit us was about the format to portray these ideas and opinions in an effective way.

We started discussing various web content formats such as the rich document format common among blogs and e-zines, the web presentation format including short videos and the ultra short format as seen on current social networks. The rich document format according to us was too terse and lengthy for easy consumption and the presentation format was a bit more difficult and time consuming for majority of our target audience. Lastly, the ultra-short format as seen on Twitter, etc. served these social networks well but we felt it is inadequate to clearly communicate ideas.

After pondering over this problem for a while, we decided to create a new micro-blog format, midway between the ultra-short format and the rich document format with some elements borrowed from the presentation format. We wanted it to be an ideal blend of all preexisting formats with some text and attached media (images and videos) to convey ideas better. We favored attachments instead of inline media for consistency of expression and accessibility.

We further narrowed down on the 1400 char limit for text during the public alpha. We realized that if something cannot be expressed in 1400 chars then its probably beyond the scope of a single post. Terse and long expression is seldom read and tests the reader’s patience.

Even though you can use the above capabilities however you want to, there are certain sweet spots that we believe will let your ideas shine through. Always attach relevant images to your posts to give a sense of depth and help them stand out even before someone reads through your thoughts. Visual cues are powerful tools to grab attention. Finally try to narrow down the scope of your post to fit the limit and when needed split your ideas and thoughts among few separate posts which can be read and consumed independently of the others. In such cases all they should have in common is the topic and an abstract context that connects them, nothing more!