B.J. Novak: Social Media Is Making Us Better Writers

Could the next great novel be simply a collection of tweets and status updates? For most, the idea may seem preposterous. The depth allowed in literary fiction couldn't be more dissimilar to the brevity valued by social media. But for producer and actor B.J. Novak, the idea of social media as literature might not be so far-fetched.

"[Social media] makes everyone aware of the minutia of conversation in literary form," Novak told Mashable. “A status update contains so much fear and hope and worry and fakery and inadvertent honesty and style and attempts to not try too hard."