CHAPTER 5: ELECTRONIC BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS Creating and Delivering Messages that Matter
CHAPTER 5: ELECTRONIC BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS Creating and Delivering Messages that Matter COMMUNICATION CHANNELS: LEVELS OF RICHNESS VARY Memos/Reports Very Low. No information from tone or body language. E-Mail Very Low. No information beyond words. Instant Message Very Low. Very few words lead to basic communication. Voice Mail Low. The audience gains tone but no body language. Telephone Conversation Moderate. The audience benefits from changes in your tone. Videoconferencing High. Conveys richness similar to in-person communication. In-Person Presentation High. Audience experiences all elements of message. Face-Face Meeting Very High. Audience experiences full message most directly. ELECTRONIC WRITING Blessing Faster Simpler Spelling/grammar checkers Curse Faster Simpler Spelling/grammar checkers SPELLBOUND I have a spelling checker, It came with my PC, It plainly marks four my revue Mistakes I cannot sea. I’ve run this poem threw it, I’m sure your pleased too no, Its letter-perfect in it’s weigh, My checker tolled me sew. E-mail E-mail Do not rely on e-mail to address problems. Balance work-related e-mail with telephone calls. E-mail may enhance a business relationship, but it will not necessarily build one. Pick up the phone and have a conversation with that person as well. Intentional or not, e-mail can sometimes come across as rude. If there is a sticky situation that needs to be dealt with at work, do it face-to-face. It will earn you respect in the long run. It is easy to misread between the lines so at work, try to be extra polite. If your Internet access is through a corporate account, check with your employer about their policy regarding private email. Emoticons 9 Send mature messages at work. Emoticons such as this smiley :-) in business e-mail, may be interpreted as too casual. Mr. Mathis, Since we discussed emoticons in class today, I thought that you might find this funny. Last year, when my daughter was in the second grade, she received an e-mail from one of her classmates. It made her mad because he sent an emoticon with a smile and a heart. She sent him the following reply: Jeremiah that was not cool to put a smile and a heart. That means I love you. g-r-o-s-s spelles GROSS!!!!!!!!!! ew!!!!!!!!!!!!you are gross do not put this again ew ew ew ew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT !!!!!!!!!!!! put this insted do not put this ether or this E-mail Never send chain letters, they are forbidden on the Internet. Notify you System Administrator if you receive one. Do not send abusive or heated messages (flames). Take care with addressing mail. Allow time for mail to be received, and replied to, keeping in mind time differences around the world and other people's busy schedules. If you want your mail to be read, don't make it too long unless the receiver is expecting a verbose message. Over 100 lines is considered long. E-mail If you are forwarding or re-posting a message, don't change the original wording. Use mixed case: UPPER CASE LOOKS AS IF YOU'RE SHOUTING lower case shows lack of respect to the recipient Mail should have a subject header that reflects the content of the message. AND REMEMBER: e-mails are forever TIPS FOR EXCELLENT EMAIL Consider both your primary and secondary readers. Keep it short. Don’t forget to proofread. Use standard writing. Avoid attachments. Don’t assume privacy. Avoid anything nearing “off-color” E-mail belongs to your employer! Respond promptly to e-mails. Assume the best. Create a compelling subject line. Think before you write, and think again before you send! Voicemail & Cell Phones Your Voicemail Message If an employer called and heard these voicemails what perception do you think they would have? Yo, this is Kelly, you know what to do and when to do it. Later….(beep) This is Joe, I’m busy at the present moment. If this is Anthony, I’ll be hangin’ until midnight having some brews with the guys. …(beep) Let’s not forget ring tones…….keep them conservative, no techno, hip-hop, mission impossible craziness – cackles, crying etc…. Telephone and Voice Mail If you return a phone call and you're forwarded to that person's voice mail, let them know when and where you can be reached: "I'll be at my desk at 4:30 this afternoon if you want to call me then." Return your calls in a timely manner. Ideally no more than twenty-four hours should go by. When leaving a voice-mail message, give your number at both the beginning and end of the message. If the recipient didn't write it down it at the beginning, they can either catch it at the end or replay the message and catch it at the top. Cell Phone When on your cell phone, practice netiquette and avoid screaming into your cell phone. The speaker on your cell phone is very sensitive and can transmit your slightest whisper. Be sensitive to those around you, because believe it or not, they don't want to hear your conversation. Top 10 Cell Phone Etiquette Rules People Still Break 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Talking too loudly. Holding inappropriate conversations in public. Rudely interrupting conversations. Checking your phone at the movies. Texting while driving. Texting while talking. Texting small talk. Loud and annoying ringtones. Disturbing live performances. Location, location, location Texting A&M student caused fatal wreck Jury decides that texting A&M student caused fatal wreck, orders him to pay $22 million FRANKLIN -- A jury that decided that a Texas A&M University student was texting while driving and caused a deadly wreck ordered him to pay $22 million in damages. The victim, Megan Small of Houston, was a senior at Baylor University and was driving to Waco when the November 2007 accident happened near Calvert. The investigation indicated that a vehicle driven by Reed Vestal crossed the center line and struck Small's vehicle head-on. Phone records indicated that Vestal sent and received 15 texts and made seven calls in the 45 minutes before the wreck. The damages will be shared with Small's friend Laura Gleffe, who was driving another car that rolled during the crash. Hunter Craft, attorney for the Small family, said Vestal declared bankruptcy before the civil trial in Franklin. An attorney for Vestal did not immediately comment. Posted Friday, Mar. 19, 2010 Facebook Facebook - Company Figures 20 More than 829 million active users 552 million active users log on to Facebook in any given day More than 70 million users update their status each day More than 60 million status updates posted each day More than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week More than 3.5 million events created each month More than 3 million active Pages on Facebook More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans Facebook Issues At several Kentucky universities, administrators have used incriminating Facebook photographs to discipline students for drinking in campus dorms. After two students at Fisher College in Boston (one of them the Student Council president) mocked and threatened a police officer on a Facebook forum, they were immediately expelled. Penn State police used Facebook to identify and discipline students who rushed the field after the Ohio State football game last October. The University of California, Santa Barbara, has promised harsh consequences for students posting pictures displaying “illegal activity” on the virtual network. Mild mannered Ray Clark during the day Same guy – is now expelled from his private Christian Academy Employers Background Checking Process If you’ve got a profile on a social networking site such as MySpace or Facebook, be prepared for potential employers to view it. National Association of Colleges and Employers More than one in 10 employers reported plans to review profiles on social networking when considering candidates. Profile information may have at least some effect on an employer’s hiring decisions: More than 60 percent of employers who review social networking sites said the information gleaned there has at least some influence on their hiring decisions. Internet Netiquette "Netiquette" stands for "Internet Etiquette“ refers to the set of practices developed over the years to make the Internet experience pleasant for everyone. Like other forms of etiquette, netiquette is primarily concerned with matters of courtesy in communications. Naughty or Nice? Installing software monitoring tools on your employees’ computers without them knowing it? Selling information you have collected from your customers without their knowledge to another business, if you believe that your customers may actually benefit from having their personal information available by that other business? Accessing personal e-mail of co-workers when you were given special access rights to the company’s databases so you may maintain the servers? Dos or Don’ts? Pointing out the spelling/grammar errors in your employee’s email? Answering a message in all upper case/lower case letters? Replying “YES” to an email, without quoting? Forwarding the private email message from your supervisor to your employees? You send a sarcastic message and include emoticons to underscore the sarcasm? What Do You Do? You receive a particularly upsetting message from your co-worker that has been cc’d to your boss. What do you do? A. B. C. D. Respond in e-mail immediately stating the fact that this type of argument is not worth the bandwidth it takes to send it. You don’t respond at all Wait overnight to send a response None of the above What Do You Do? You receive a spam message that is offensive to you. What do you do? A. B. C. D. Click the link in the message to remove you from the list Just delete the message and go on Try to Contact the ISP of the Spammer None of the Above What Do You Do? You just received a message from a very good friend informing you of a new virus that has been spreading on the Net. What do you do? A. B. C. D. Immediately forward it to all your friends and relatives Ignore it Check the hoax web site or/and virus website for the latest info None of the above What Do You Do? You just received an email message from an acquaintance with an attachment file entitled Thankyou.doc. What do you do? A. B. C. D. Intrigued, you open it up You delete it without opening it You contact the friend to verify the authenticity of the message None of the above What Do You Do? You just received an exciting message from a colleague. In all the excitement, you hit the reply button and elaborate in the reply on the shortcomings of your current position. The message goes to all the people subscribed to the listserv, including your current boss. What do you do? A. B. C. D. Put your head in the oven and turn on the gas. Send an apology to the listserv and a private one to your boss. Ignore the situation None of the above Spam On the Internet, the term spam refers to unwanted messages posted to newsgroups or sent to a list of users through e-mail. Most obnoxious form of spam unwanted commercial advertising. chain letters. Spamming has become so pervasive that it’s estimated that unwanted messages account for 5 to 30% of the 15 million messages received by America Online subscribers each day. Best way to Fight it – complain to spammer’s Internet provider Hoaxes Some pretty incredible hoaxes have been propagated across the Internet. The hoaxes are designed to prey upon people’s fears, sensitivities, or desires to keep the hoax spreading to other users over the Net. The major hoaxes are catalogued http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ where you can look to see whether the hoax is a recognized one. LEGAL HEAD, Adams and Co. Chambers. 892 Bulovard - Airport Road - Kumassi, 00233 Kumassi - GHANA. Good day to you, My name is Adam Clayton (Esq) From Ghana, I hope my message meets you in good health. I wish to notify you (again) that you were listed as the beneficiary to a total sum of USD$4,750,000.00 (Four Million Seven Hundred And Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) in the intent of the deceased (late) Madame Olivia. I contacted you because you bear the same last name with my deceased client and therefore I can present you as the beneficiary to the inheritance, since there is no written will from my late client. I received a notification from the Central Bank (BANK OF GHANA H/Q) that the funds will be confiscated to Government's treasury account as abandoned funds due to account in-activity for the past 14 Months since she passed away to glory (Natural Cardiac Arrest) at age 68, I have two weeks only to present a beneficiary in order to avoid this action. Please, I am in need of your support, for I cannot do this alone. I am prepared to provide you with all the documents which might be required by the holding Bank to enable them release this inheritance funds to you. All the papers work required will be processed in your acceptance of this deal as I am prepared to offer you 45%, 45% for me, while 10% will be set aside for any expenses we pay for during this transaction, that is to say that any money spent during the period of this transaction will be fully refunded once the fund has been transferred into your nominated bank account or any other safer means you prefer. I request that you kindly forward to me your letter of acceptance with the below details via my private email (adamclayton@inbox.lv) Your Full Name: Full Address: Personal Tel No. Private Email: Date of Birth: I will truly appreciate your response. Yours sincerely, Adam Clayton (Esq) Viruses The best way to guard against catching a virus through e-mail is never to open an attachment to an e-mail message. One of the most harmful e-mail viruses was the Love Bug virus. It spread as an attachment to an e-mail message entitled “I Love You” and asked you to open the attachment, which was named “LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.VBS.” It is also possible for macros in MS Word .doc files and MS Excel .xls files to transmit viruses. To find out about latest viruses, visit Symantec’s website Safe and Responsible Use of the Internet What you do reflects on you Those are real people out there Play by the rules Keep it private Look your best Don’t pollute Remain cool under fire Read with your eyes open Respect the creator – Credit the source Watch where you are looking Don’t take candy from strangers Don’t go where you don’t belong Do your part Responsible Netizen Institute, http://www.responsiblenetizen.org , July 14, 2003
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