14.3 Netiquette and Social Media

We create and curate personal profiles, post content and comments, and interact via social media as a normal part of our personal and professional lives. How we conduct ourselves on the open internet can leave a lasting impression, one not so easily undone if it’s regrettable. The hilarious but compromising selfie you posted on Instagram five years ago is still there for your potential employer to find, judge what it says about your professionalism, and speculate about what customers might think if they saw it too. Some guidance about what can be done about those mistakes and how to conduct ourselves properly moving forward can help improve your employability.

Shea’s Netiquette

Virginia Shea’s Rules of Netiquette offer helpful guidelines for online behaviour:

• 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.
• Make yourself look good online.
• Share expert knowledge.
• Keep flame wars under control.
• Respect other people’s privacy.
• Don’t abuse your power.
• Be forgiving of other people’s mistakes.^[1]

Her rules speak for themselves and remind us that the golden rule (treat others as you would like to be treated) is relevant wherever there is human interaction.

Legal Responsibilities

Your writing in a business context means that you represent yourself and your company. What you write and how you write it can be part of your company’s success but can also expose it to unintended consequences and legal responsibility. When you write, remember that your words will continue existing long after you have moved on to other projects. They can become an issue if they exaggerate, state false claims, or defame a person or legal entity, such as a competing company.

Using Social Media Professionally

Review sites, blogs, tweets, and online community forums are some continually developing means of social media being harnessed by businesses and industries to reach customers and other stakeholders. People’s comfort in the online environment forces businesses to market and interact there or risk a massive loss in sales and interest. Though most users learn how to use social media as an extension or facilitator of their social lives, using the same platforms for professional reasons requires some behaviour change.

First, recognize that every modern business or organization should have a social media presence in the sites they expect their customer base to frequent, especially popular sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Messaging here must be consistent across the platforms when alerting the customer base of important information such as special events, deals, and other news.

Next, follow expert advice on properly taking advantage of social media in detail to promote your operation and reach people. Large companies will dedicate personnel to run their social media presence, but small businesses can do much of it themselves if they follow some decent online advice.

Know also that social media is a constantly evolving environment. Stay on trend by continually searching out and implementing the latest advice similar to the above.

Finally, always consider how the sites you access and what you post represent you and your employer, even if you think others don’t know where you work or who you are. By law, Internet service providers (ISPs) are required to archive information concerning the use and traffic of information that can become available under subpoena. Any move you make leaves a digital footprint, so you must answer for any misstep that disgraces you or your company.

Texting and Instant Messaging

Whatever digital device you use, written communication in the form of Short Message Service (SMS), or texting has been a convenient and popular way to connect since the 1990s. Instant messaging (IMing) apps like Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger have increased the options people have to send and respond to brief written messages in real time when talking on the phone would otherwise be inconvenient. In business, texting and IMing are especially advantageous for hashing out details precisely in writing so that they can be referred to later. Texting and IMing are not useful for long or complicated messages but are great for connecting while on the go. However, consider your audience and company by choosing words, terms, or abbreviations that will deliver your message most effectively using these communication tools.

Tips for Effective Business Texting:

• Know your recipient; “? % dsct” may be an understandable way to ask a close associate what the proper discount is to offer a certain customer, but if you are texting or IMing your boss, it might be wiser to write, “what % discount does Murray get on $1K order?”
• Anticipate unintentional misinterpretation. Texting often uses symbols and codes to represent thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Given the complexity of communication and the valuable but limited tool of texting, be aware of its limitations and prevent misinterpretation with brief and clear messages.
• Contacting someone too frequently can border on harassment. Texting is a tool. Use it when appropriate, but don’t abuse it.
• Unplug yourself once in a while. Do you feel constantly connected? Do you feel lost or “out of it” if you don’t have your cell phone and cannot connect to people, even for fifteen minutes? Sometimes, being unavailable for a time can be healthy—everything in moderation, including texting.
• Don’t text and drive.

“9.1 Text, E-mail, and Netiquette” and “19.4 Business and Professional Meetings” from Business Communication for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

“Unit 19: Netiquette and Social Media” and “Unit 20: Texting and Instant Messaging” from Communication @ Work Seneca Edition by Jordan Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.