How would you rate your Netiquette?
By Guest: Tameka Anderson of L.A. Say, Inc.
First of all, what is “Internet-iquette” or as most like to call it, “Netiquette”? We will define Netiquette as the proper way and technique one uses in order to approach, relate, and communicate with others by way of Internet. Whether it’s via email, blogs, twitter, myspace, facebook, or any other social media networking sites, understanding the proper way in which to communicate with words is very important. One must be extremely careful in how they use their words because by you not verbally speaking them, it is much easier to be misunderstood and misinterpreted. One of the greatest misinterpretations is the one that is written!
Seeing how Internet is the most popular and most effective way of communication these days, how does one get around being misunderstood when they are communicating via Internet? There are a few steps that you must take to ensure that you use proper etiquette as it relates to communicating without verbally using your words. The keyboard is a very important instrument in communicating because in one keystroke and two or three words, you can totally change the way someone thinks about you. Using ALL CAPS is something you do not want to indulge in often as using caps is viewed as speaking loudly about a matter, a.k.a. shouting. Who in the world likes it when someone else shouts at them? More often than not, most people detest shouting so why would you shout in your text? Unless you and the person which whom you are communicating with via Internet are on an intimate, very personal first name basis, take EXTREME caution in using caps (pun is definitely intended here).
Next, what you want to always do is read, read, and re-read the message before publishing it to the web. Not only will you need to read it, you must read it aloud. This will ensure you do not have any punctuation errors or misspellings, and more important than anything else, you are not offensive to people. It is almost impossible to not offend someone at any given time but you want to use as much discretion as you possibly can in order not to offend the majority. It would be better if someone read a typo or misspelling of a word than if you offended anyone with the content of your words. Now having typos or misspellings are not good things either and we will discuss that later, but for sake of argument, typos or misspellings would be the lesser of the two evils.
The next thing we must mention is about having typos and or misspellings. We are all human and therefore to make mistakes is natural but that is not an excuse to be lazy. In our wonderful world of modern technology, we have spell check and some programs even have grammar check as well. Even though you may be typing the word “work” but in context you needed to type the actual word “word”, this is where reading it aloud would be most helpful to you. Because once you use the spell check, you will not be alerted that there is a misspelled word because the word was spelled correctly; it was just not the correct word you would use in your text. Some people (mostly writers) find it very offensive when they read typos because for some reason, we believe that it is just rude. How in the world would you like someone to read something you wrote and you have so many typos involved? Do yourself and everyone around you a favor, proofread!
After reading these wonderfully helpful hints, how would you rate your Netiquette? If it’s not that great, what steps would you take to make it better?
About the Author: Tameka (L.A.) Anderson, owner of L.A. Say Inc., is a
creative writer and interpersonal relations consultant. She is a graduate
of the University of Phoenix where she studied Criminal Justice and Communications. L.A. has been a writer since the age of 9. Her writing background includes several copyright stage plays, published web content, articles, and published poems. 2010 will debut her first of many published books. Contact L.A. at info@lasayinc.com or at www.LASayInc.com
Debbie Plummer is the Founder and Owner of Plum ExecuServices: As a business owner, I am committed to providing ethical, proficient service as a Virtual Assistant specializing in Administrative Support. With a degree in Management and over 25 years of experience in the corporate administrative assistant field I bring the best, of what I have learned from the best, to my clients and their businesses.
