After bookmarking the Time Magazine article “How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live” a week ago, I finally got around to reading it. A week on the web is eons. Many of you have already read the article, or maybe you haven’t, given the world’s attention span has been relegated to information delivered in 140 character bits.

In the piece, @StevenBJohnson delivers an interesting read on end-user innovation and an optimistic take on American ingenuity.

I whole-heartedly agree that Twitter is delivering positive innovation: “ambient awareness,” a truly open social web and an incredible way to search what people are saying now. (The implications for search alone are enormous.) However, as a agency responsible for delivering branded content to our clients’ fans, I worry that Twitter may be birthing an entirely new kind of hyper-distracted society. (What was I saying?)

Now excuse me while I post this blog link on our Twitter page.

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William Strunk Jr., in Elements of Style, famously declares: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”

Though not prone to following rules to the letter, I believe this to be true. I also know that clarity and simplicity is not easily achieved.

The other day as I struggled to write a tweet (a word that I cannot say without feeling funny), I came to this conclusion: Twitter is making me a better writer. Not in the traditional sense. (See, that was a fragment.) People surely do butcher the Queen’s English in texts, IMs, tweets and emails. I’m speaking strictly to conveying a point in as succinct a fashion as possible.

Twitter’s 140 character limit forces me to get to the point. I’ve found myself writing and rewriting entries, and I know I’ve deleted far more than I’ve posted.

Every tweet must tell.

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So the world has gone social media crazy. When Oprah got in on the action last week, Twitter had officially arrived on main street. (For the record, @redsquareagency was here before Oprah.)

With Web 2.0 widely adopted, old media like print, newspaper, outdoor and broadcast are suffering. Some more than others of course. But we feel like the death of “old,” traditional media is greatly exaggerated. The old media that learns to adapt to the nature of new media will thrive.

It’s about conversation and timeliness.

Social media is a conversation. Brands, like people, have the opportunity to interact with their friends (or fans or followers or whatever you want to call them) and engage unlike ever before. The result is awesome brand loyalty. You don’t just eat Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut is your buddy. You hang out online with Pizza Hut.

Timeliness cannot be overstated. This is where old media, especially newspapers, are behind the eight ball. The news cycle, buzz cycle, fame cycle is real time now. (In fact, Google searches are even becoming obsolete due to real-time search on Twitter Search.)

In the midst of the “Ashton Kutcher/CNN race to 1 million Twitter followers” pop culture moment last week, Lamar Outdoor Advertising showed all of old media how to play ball. They took part in the conversation. “Follow Ashton Kutcher.” Okay then. That’s how Lamar rolls. Team Kutcher. Beyond joining the discussion, they demonstrated agility and that they could mix it up in real time. Lamar had the board up in nearly 1,200 locations nationwide within hours. We love it.

Here’s our prediction: soon again, new media and old media will just be called “media.” Only smarter and faster.

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