Tweeting in style - AP style

Journalists know that the annual Associated Press Stylebook is the grammar, punctuation and style Bible for writers, although some publications still prefer their own localized tweaks of certain elements.

There's also a Stylebook Online (see below for pricing) feature offering a package of audio clips by AP's Broadcast News Center in Washington, D.C., for pronunciation of more than 200 names and places in the news. Podcasters might find this useful.

Bloggers can follow AP Stylebook Twitters here - twitter.com/apstylebook - where AP posts updates and answers questions. There were 6,000 followers when the press release was published on June 11.

The 2009 Stylebook has some 60 new or updated terms, according to the press release:

Twitter, the social networking tool that has turned millions of people around the world into instant micro-bloggers, has made it into the 2009 edition of The Associated Press Stylebook, along with complicated business terms such as credit default swaps and derivatives that have gained more exposure amid the global recession.

The new edition of the Stylebook adds a "Quick Reference Guide" to make it easier for users to answer the most common questions on topics such as abbreviations and acronyms; homicide, murder and manslaughter; and polls and surveys.

Twitter, the Middle Eastern eggplant dish baba ghanoush and texting as a verb are among more than 60 new or updated entries in the new AP Stylebook, which includes more business, food, medical and Arabic terms and expanded information on major U.S. and international companies.

The range of new business terms also includes collateralized debt obligations, Libor, recession-proof, reverse auction, securitization and solvency.

Twitter and Tweet are defined:

The new entry for Twitter notes that the social networking Web site limits messages to short Tweets. The verb forms are to Twitter or to Tweet.

The paperback 2009 Stylebook is $11.75 for member news organizations and college bookstores; $18.95 retail. Stylebook Online prices are $25 annually;$15 for member organizations. Prices are the same as last year, due to the current economy. Order the book or the online service here.

For more AP information, click here.