Electronic Communication

1
Electronic Communication

2
Electronic Communications
Pitfall or Potential

• There are over 60 billion e-mails sent everyday
  around the world
• There are over 2 billion cell phone owners
  worldwide over 200 million in the US
• There are over 110 million MySpace active users
• Over 175 million active users on Facebook

3
E-mail
4
E-mail

• Do not rely on e-mail to address problems.
• 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.
• 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.
• It is easy to misread between the lines so at
  work, try to be extra polite.

5
E-mail

• Send mature messages at work.
• Emoticons such as this smiley -) in business
  e-mail, may be interpreted as too casual.
• Just be straightforward and always use the spell
  checker!
• If your Internet access is through a corporate
  account, check with your employer about their
  policy regarding private e-mail.
• Don't assume any Internet communication is
  completely secure.
• "Never put in a mail message anything you would
  not put on a postcard".
• Verify any suspect mail, as addresses can be
  forged.

6
Emoticons

• 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 

7
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.

8
E-mail

• If you are forwarding or re-posting a message,
  don't change the original wording.
• If you are replying to a message, quote only the
  relevant parts.
• 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.

9
Voicemail Cell Phones
10
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, Im busy at the present moment. If
  this is Anthony, Ill be hangin until midnight
  having some brews with the guys. (beep)
• Lets not forget ring tones.keep them
  conservative, no techno, hip-hop, mission
  impossible craziness cackles, crying etc.

11
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 430 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.

12
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.

13
Top 10 Cell Phone Etiquette Rules People Still
Break

1. Talking too loudly.
2. Holding inappropriate conversations in public.
3. Rudely interrupting conversations.
4. Checking your phone at the movies.
5. Texting while driving.
6. Texting while talking.
7. Texting small talk.
8. Loud and annoying ringtones.
9. Disturbing live performances.
10. Location location location

14
Facebook
15
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.

16
Mild mannered Ray Clark during the day
Same guy is now expelled from his private
Christian Academy
17
Employers Background Checking Process

• If youve 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 employers 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.

18
Internet
19
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.

20
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 companys
  databases so you may maintain the servers?

21
Dos or Donts?

• Pointing out the spelling/grammar errors in your
  employees 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?

22
What Do You Do?

• You receive a particularly upsetting message from
  your co-worker that has been ccd to your boss.
  What do you do?
• Respond in e-mail immediately stating the fact
  that this type of argument is not worth the
  bandwidth it takes to send it.
• You dont respond at all
• Wait overnight to send a response
• None of the above

23
What Do You Do?

• You receive a spam message that is offensive to
  you. What do you do?
• 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

24
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?
• 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

25
What Do You Do?

• You just received an email message from an
  acquaintance with an attachment file entitled
  Thank-you.doc. What do you do?
• 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

26
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?
• 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

27
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 its
  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 spammers
  Internet provider

28
Hoaxes

• Some pretty incredible hoaxes have been
  propagated across the Internet. The hoaxes are
  designed to prey upon peoples 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.

29
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
  Symantecs website

30
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
• Dont pollute
• Remain cool under fire
• Read with your eyes open
• Respect the creator Credit the source
• Watch where you are looking
• Dont take candy from strangers
• Dont go where you dont belong
• Do your part

Responsible Netizen Institute, http//www.responsi
blenetizen.org , July 14, 2003