In a random comment from a friend lately I was asked about my negative tone.
"Negative?" I asked.
Certainly we all have differing registers for what is negative and what is not. Sarcasm can cut either way and it is really a subjective opinion rather than a "positive" or "negative" tone. Still my friend's question has had me thinking about my "tone."
With that in mind I took a screen shot this morning of as many post titles as would fit on a single computer screen. And then I have overlayed my own tone ratings for each one.
+ Is POSITIVE. Def: Sentiment and tone of this post is UP. There may be some counterpoints, but even in the post about my father's day tennis loss, I was happy to report that my kids didn't even really ask or care if I WON or LOST.
- Is NEGATIVE. Def: Tone is spiky beyond mere humor. While I often use #fail as an iconic phrase for criticism it does not necessarily make it negative. However, for the purpose of comparison, I can see how "criticism" even done in the journalistic spirit can be seen as negative.
≠ Is NEUTRAL. Def: Tech reviews, tech opinions are neutral for the most part. And if I couldn't find the easy POS or NEG answer I put it in NEU.
And here's what I got:
So there you have it.
27% Negative.
And what I've said to some of my critics, who say I'm toooooo negative, or "over the top." You know, I don't get followers or readers by writing boring shite. If it needs an edge I'm gonna put it in there. I am comfortable with that. But I don't intentionally take a negative tone, and if my self-examination is accurate, I don't have an overly negative tone either.
In fact I'm 48% bubbly. (And if I add this post to make it 19 out of 38 then I've soared to 50% POSITIVE!)
@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/defining-tone
A couple good examples of my bubbliness and self-examination:
- ReTweet Tweet Tweet – We Are What We Tweet: What Value Are You Giving Your Following?
- Behavioral Disorders As Currency In Social Media: Humor About Us
- Creative Process Has Many Interruptions: My Songwriting Self-Examination – Buzzie
- Three from AliveTribe.net: 1. an email mountain; 2. butt; 3. the global mind
- TimeShifting: Sleep Less, Rock More, Fire Everything and Be Everywhere
- Music Discovery and Community – a Sub-Semantic Connective Network
