How to Effectively Communicate Online
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When you speak to someone face to face, it’s easy to understand what they’re saying. When face to face, you can read someone’s hand gestures, body language, tone of voice, and facial expressions. All of this makes it very easy to understand what the person is saying.
Online it’s a whole different ballgame. Communicating via email, online forums, or even webcasts is not always so easy. After all, you can’t read any of those nonverbal expressions. However, by following these three simple rules, you can make communicating online a whole lot easier.
Write clearly – Often it’s difficult to write what is quite easy to say. But writing in a long-winded way can be confusing to the reader. Instead, think about what you mean to say and write in short, clear sentences. Sentences dotted with punctuation can be read in a variety of ways and may confuse the reader. So stick to short, clear sentences. It also helps to close your message with a little humor or other “nicety.” This will help stop your overall message from appearing dry. When reading messages, it’s very easy for people to confuse a message that is direct and to the point with a message that is brash.
Learn netiquette – There are different rules of politeness online. Did you know that writing in all capital letters means you are shouting at your reader? This is an easy mistake for a novice to make and one you want to avoid. Also, using too many exclamation marks can make your message appear irrational or a bit over the top. And very overly direct sentences without the use of humor may appear harsh or unemotional. You can use emoticons to express how you’re feeling – a happy face at the end of a direct message can make a big difference to the overall impression of the reader. However, if you’re writing in a more professional manner or would like your message to be taken seriously, too many emoticons may make you appear unprofessional. Again, it’s all about striking the right balance.
Explain yourself – Particularly when dealing with colleagues and subcontractors, it’s important for them to know right from the start that when you’re writing a business message you may do so in a very direct way. Ask them not to take it to mean anything other than what is written in the message. You simply may not have time to include a chatty message with each email. Explain that your direct messages don’t mean that you’re upset or anything – you’re just communicating about the job at hand.
These three rules can help you avoid many pitfalls of online communication. It also helps to keep in mind that sometimes you may read a message differently than what the writer intended. It’s always best to approach these situations with caution by simply asking the writer to explain what he or she meant. The worst thing to do is go in all guns blazing and then realize that you actually misunderstood the message – oops!
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