Every day we naturally resort to microtext to communicate
Microtext is a term that is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ). In any case, it is possible to understand its meaning if we pay attention to its components.
A very short text
The prefix micro- refers to that which is “very small” . A text , meanwhile, is a written or oral statement. This concept is also used to refer to what is expressed in the body of a printed or handwritten work.
A microtext , in this way, is a very short text . This expressive modality is characterized by economizing words and resources.
Micro story y micro story son otras nociones asociadas a los microtextos. Los límites y los alcances de estas expresiones no son precisos.
Minifiction
Microtexts are part of what is known as minifiction , since they are usually content developed in prose that allows a story to be told. Due to their characteristics, it is common for microtexts to leave the ending open or for the reader to have to adopt an active position to complete or even construct the meaning.
Popularity
With the spread of the Internet , microtexts became very popular. The social network Twitter , with its character limitation, was key to the dissemination of this type of literature.
Another important issue that contributes to the impact of microtexts is the little attention time that people currently dedicate to each activity. In this dispersion, shorter literature manages to capture people's fleeting interest, unlike what can happen with a 300-page novel, for example.
While in the past writing was the task of experts or students, today it is done by all of us, daily . Furthermore, we do not do it expecting a formal qualification, of an academic nature, or a contract with a publisher, but simply to express our feelings, share an opinion about content or tell an anecdote.
Microstyle
It is important to note that texts such as slogans, headlines, tweets, brand names, hashtags, email subject lines, forum comments, and personal profile statuses also fall into this category. social networks. This means that they go far beyond the limits of literature and the press, largely due to the characteristics of current communication .
To build a microtext, whether we know it or not, we must use a microstyle , thanks to which our content will be able to capture the reader's attention instantly so that the communication of the message is effective. Conciseness is necessary, but it is not achieved by simply restricting the number of words, but rather by choosing the most impactful ones.
Nowadays, our attention to texts is fleeting
Given that microtexts predominate in today's discourse, our creativity when expressing ourselves through the written word must rely on a microstyle. Although microtext and its associated concepts are not modern, today they enjoy omnipresence because they are no longer an exclusive creation of writers . This does not mean that any Internet user can express themselves with the same skill as a literary personality: talent remains a blessing for a few.
To build our own microstyle, we usually start by observing those of others. It is a set of resources necessary to communicate today, which would not have worked a century ago in a letter or a chance encounter on the street. But the lack of time to commit to reading has led us to compress the speech knowing that otherwise it will not reach its destination in its entirety.