According to a recent survey commissioned by Dictionary.com, the 18–34 age group is the most annoyed by grammatical errors on social media. This contradicts the popular image of this tech-savvy generation using abbreviations and poor grammar in their written communications.
The results of the survey, which involved 2,052 people and was carried out using a Harris online poll between the 31st of July and the 4th of August 2015, reveals that younger adults are actually quite picky about grammar. When asked about grammatical slips on social media, 74 per cent of those aged 18–34 said they were bothered by them. This was higher than with any other age group.
The survey also revealed that 80 per cent of American adults regard themselves as having good spelling, although many may be exaggerating their abilities. Women also tended to be slightly pickier about spelling and grammar, with 75 per cent saying they often found errors in other people’s writing compared to 66 per cent of men.
This survey shows that even if you’re targeting younger adults, you cannot assume that spelling and grammar do not matter. The popular stereotype of young adults communicating in abbreviations and without respect for spelling and grammar just doesn’t seem to hold true, and they’re just as likely to be annoyed by sloppy grammar. If you’ve been struggling to generate enough error-free content for your website news feed, maybe it’s time to consider using a news provider with its own quality control process.
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