THE RISE OF THE INTERNET AND THE IMPORTANCE OF EMAIL ETIQUETTE

The Internet.....it will never catch on.'

-George W Bush, 1986-

When emailing and the World Wide Web were first being developed, many people didn't believe that these new tools would take off and become widely used by the general public (mind you, a similar group of people also thought that mobile phones were a fad.....)

Well- they have been proven wrong and then some! Many companies can no longer function without being connected to the Internet. We research, network, communicate and sort out our finances, all from the comfort of our office desk. Actually- we don't even have to be in our office, in front of a computer- we can now connect through our mobile phones and even our televisions.

One thing that has emerged out of our ever growing reliance on the Internet is an increased dependence on email as a means of communication. These days, more people email than pick up the phone.

Email can be hugely useful. Taking the time to write a message down enables you to say exactly what you want to say. On top of this, when you email, you don't run the risk of interrupting a client or a jouranalist when they are busy. On the down side, it does remove that personal aspect. Also, emotions and meaning can't always be properly conveyed through email and this can sometimes lead to misunderstandings....

Understanding email etiquette is an extremely important part of communicating properly....whether it is internally or with customers and suppliers. Here are a few tips from someone who has grown up with the net and has sent an awful lot of emails over the years!

1) Be meticulous with grammar, punctuation and spelling. You want the people you are communicating with to believe that you are professional and educated. Sending them an email without any full stops will not convince them that this is true.

2) Do not write your entire email in capital letters. This should be an obvious point but I recieved an email from a supplier a couple of days ago and the email read LIKE SHE WAS SHOUTING AT ME. Capital letters are hard to read and completely unnecessary

3) Be concise and to the point. If you are in business, it is likely that the people you are contacting are very busy people. Unless you are emailing a family friend, make sure that you do not ramble on for half a page about the weather/your children/your best friend's dog.

4) Beware of the Reply to All button. This email function can be very dangerous! Make sure that you only reply to the people that you want the email to be read by. Also be careful of the auto-fill function when typing out email addresses. Your client might not appreciate that highly confidential information being sent to your Mum or ex-boss by mistake....

5) Finally, never ever send an email when you are feeling angry. The consequences of this have been seen in many a newspaper story. Once you have sent an email, it can't usually be retrieved. If you are not sure whether you should send an email, save it in your drafts folder, sleep on it and then reassess the situation in the morning. You might decide that sending an abusive email to that supplier that got a delivery wrong or the client that paid an invoice late might not actually be the best course of action!