This started out as email advice but also applies to other social media so I’m using message to refer to your posts/emails.
- Never write anything in an message that you don’t want the person you are talking about, your boss, and your mother to read.
- Never forward an message from another person without their permission to avoid #1 happening to them.
- If you want someone to do something in an online system in response to your message, include the url, no matter how many times they’ve done this before.
- Building on #3, followup emails are more effective if they include all of the information in previous messages, either as an inline forward or summarized.
- Note the use of forward, not reply – if you reply to an email the attachments tend to get stripped off.
- Generally don’t mix topics in a message. If you have 3 things to say, 3 separate messages is more effective. If you must mix topics, make certain all N are mentioned at the top so important information does not get lost below the fold on a small screen.
- If there is a header, make certain it is descriptive and informative so that people will want to read your message and be able to find it later. If there is a deadline, it is useful to include that information in the header.
- Generally, save your messages so that you can refer to them later.
onequestionaweek 