Really found this reading interesting.
Email is such a major part of our online lives – but as the readings point out there are many people who don’t use the medium effectively. Not adding a subject, adding pointless attachments (including over-use of screengrabs), and just generally sending long or irrelevant emails are on my pet-hate list.
I work in a digital newsroom and when I first started I was absolutely blown away at how QUIET it was. What I wasn’t seeing though was all the emails going back and forth which actually makes my workplace extremely loud.
On a busy day I can get anywhere up to 300 emails – these include press releases, editors requests, reports, information sharing – and that’s not even starting with the emails I send out to follow up on a story or things I need to do. Some days in order to get anything done I actually have to log out of my email.
We also have an instant messenger service called Office Messenger at work – which I find really helpful. We can send an instant message to anyone in the company and can even send a group instant messages. Basically MSN Messenger but for News Limited.
I find using this much more effective if I’ve got a quick question/request rather than email. It’s also great for sending links or code to someone. You often get a much quicker response than email and it also saves having your inbox clogged up with more emails.
My rule of thumb is if it is less than 3 lines and you already know the person – IM is the best method.
On the flip side to that I find overly long emails are just as ineffective. If your email looks like the next edition of Australian Prescriber (aka longer than 10 paragraphs) then chances are it’s probably best to go and talk to someone (if they’re in your office) or give them a call.
I’m not a master of this yet but as the readings suggested learning how to store your emails and organize email contacts effectively can help you beyond comprehension.
If you’re an outlook user there’s a fantastic program you can download that will revolutionise your life. Xobni is a sidebar that sits in your outlook email. If you search through your contacts it will bring up all their information, facebook – linkedin contacts etc, previous emails/attachments you’ve shared.
Did I mention it was free as well?
It’s definitely a must have if you’re aiming at becoming a better email user.
Something I didn’t really agree with in the readings was the whole notion of sending yourself an email when you have notations on a particular email. I definitely agree that sometimes sending URL links or passages of information to yourself can be an easy and quick way to ensure you remember something, however when it comes to adding notes to emails I’m more in favour of using an add-on program that allows you to do this.
Xobni does this to a certain extent but I’m sure with some thorough research there would be other programs out there that may allow notations to be made to certain emails. Suggestions welcome!
Also on the topic of “Quoting” I actually find this really rude and think it should be avoided at all costs. Emails can be very subjective and I think when someone decides to simply add their response in your original email it comes across as cold and highly unprofessional.
Unnecessarily “replying-all” is another big no no. Think about it before you press send – does it really need to be sent to everyone?
I’m really interested to see where the email world is heading. I think as a whole it’s probably the slowest area of evolution in comparison to other sectors of the internet.
On March 19 Google’s email program Gmail announced a new “Undo Send” function which gives users a five second window to realise they’ve made a mistake and choose not to send their original email. It was announced on the Gmail official blog.
Whilst I personally think five seconds isn’t enough time to realise you’ve actually sent “that” message to your ex boyfriend – it still signals an evolution in email communication.
I’d like to know what email will be like in five years. Will we still use it? Will everyone just use Twitter to communicate? Who knows – but thoughts and sugestions are always welcome!
<exits>
