Chapter 1: Drafting a Professional Email
Instant Messages & Netiquette
Writing Instant Messages
It may seem weird to learn about instant messaging in a textbook, given that you probably are very familiar with it. It is important to think about instant messaging in this context because it is transforming workplaces, and major differences exist between using instant messaging with friends and using it with colleagues. Fans of instant messaging says it reduces the high volume of emails, allows people to get their questions answered quickly and enables people across multiple offices to talk without the need for meetings. Opponents say that instant messaging is distracting, that it results in too many side conversations and it’s not a secure medium.
To use instant messaging effectively, you should:
- Avoid sending anything you wouldn’t be okay with others reading. Sometimes, miscommunications happen because people use too many text-message acronyms, which makes their messages seem sloppy and confusing. When in doubt, err on the side of speaking clearly and plainly.
- Respond promptly.
- Adjust your tone and level of formality to your audience. Before communicating on a new channel, take a minute to watch your colleagues interact. How do people use grammar? Do they use GIFs? Is every message on-topic or do people chat about their lives? Every organization has a slightly different culture around Slack. Often miscommunications arise because people treat Slack like Facebook or Twitter.
- Consider who needs to see your message. Are you posting in the right channel?
- Since your coworkers might get notifications on their phones, only post during business hours.
- Don’t message everyone in the group unless you really need to talk to everyone in the group.
- Don’t criticize people. In fact, you should usually keep your tone positive.
Netiquette
We create personal pages, post messages, and interact via mediated technologies as a normal part of our lives, but how we conduct ourselves can leave a lasting image, literally. Several years ago, when the internet was a new phenomenon, Virginia Shea laid out a series of ground rules for communication online that continue to serve us today.
Virginia Shea’s Rules of Netiquette
- Remember the human on the other side of the electronic communication.
- Adhere to the same standards of behaviour online that you follow in real life.
- Know where you are in cyberspace.
- Respect other people’s time and bandwidth.
- Share expert knowledge.
- Respect other people’s privacy.
- Don’t abuse your power.
- Be forgiving of other people’s mistakes (Shea, 1994).
One of the really difficult things about this particular moment in workplace communication is that many people have to be online for their jobs, but risk online is unevenly distributed. For example, one 11-year study found that 71% of victims in online harassment cases were women[1]. Racialized people also experience more online harassment. A Pew study found that 25% of black Americans had been harassed because of their race online.[2]. LGBTQ2S+ youth are also three times more likely to experience online harassment.[3].
When you post online, it’s great to upload standards of professionalism, but it’s also important to think about the wider context around you. For example, you might use Twitter to follow experts in your field from diverse backgrounds and open yourself up to perspectives you might not have considered.
