No longer are you limited to the written letter or the telephone when you want to reach out to friends and family. Today we have microblogs, text messages and email among other vehicles for communication. Though technology has given us many ways to quickly and easily engage others. It does not change the fact that our correspondence reflects who we are. Thus, you should educate yourself in the area of email etiquette.

Make Your Point

A well crafted email is only as long as it should be. Email is a great time saver, unless it takes you longer to type it than it would to say it over the phone or if it takes the reader longer to sift through fluffy language and throw-away phrases in order to discover the point of your email.

Watch Your Tone

It’s hard to know how someone will react, emotionally, to the way your email is written. If you like to keep things brief, make sure you say “please” and “thank you” to soften the way you are coming across. You might consider using an appropriate salutation or closing like “Dear friend” or “All the best” to leave a good first and last impression.

Don’t type in all CAPS. It looks like you are shouting and it can be hard to read. Finally, use good judgment when using smileys. While they can help you define the tone of a sentence, they can also make you look like a 15 year old;-)

Be Smart

Email can give you a sense of anonymity that may impair your judgment. If you are responding to an emotionally charged email, don’t mash the send button after composing your response. Wait a few hours or a day, reread your email and make sure you mean what you say. Also, write your emails as if anyone in the world might read them, because they might. If you have something to say to someone, good or bad, that you would not want broadcast to your office or worse, pick up the phone or meet in person.

Stop Forwarding

Do not forward chain letters, urban myths presented as truth, potentially offensive jokes, videos or photos without being asked or first receiving permission. If you find something that is funny and it is clean and you genuinely think the recipient will enjoy it then foward it to that person only (not in an email blast to all your friends) and include a personal note about why you enjoyed it and why you think they will too. Especially avoid sending forwards to friends or relatives that you’ve grown distant with. If you and Auntie have not talked in years on the phone or in person and the only correspondance she gets from you is an impersonal, offensive, time wasting email once a week. Don’t expect to be talking on the phone any time soon.