When Words are All We Have ...

When I first joined eModeration to work for the first time in what is now called a ‘distributed team’, I was gently advised to be very cautious about my use of email and IM to my new colleagues: people who I may never meet face to face or even talk to on the phone. It was good advice: text is a powerful tool, and it’s frighteningly easy to be misunderstood or misunderstand.

Recently I’ve been reading the words of the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Archbishop Nichols, in conjunction with one of my favourite social media players, Jake McKee in his recent post 9 Tips for Inspired (and Inspiring) Text Communication in his blog Community Guy.

The Archbishop said that relationships are already being weakened by the decline in face-to-face meetings and conversations over the phone.

"I think there's a worry that an excessive use or an almost exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we're losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that's necessary for living together and building a community.
"We're losing social skills, the human interaction skills, how to read a person's mood, to read their body language, how to be patient until the moment is right to make or press a point. Too much exclusive use of electronic information dehumanises what is a very, very important part of community life and living together."

I don’t suppose for a moment that Jake intended to be juxtaposed with the Archbishop, and I guess he wouldn’t have, bar for their proximity in my inbox. But they are both touching on the same point: how can we try to convey our exact meaning, deprived of the other key communicators of voice and body?

Jake’s excellent advice (originally written for Online Community Research Network) is aimed at community managers, but I’d suggest it’s worth reading for anyone at all whose chief means of communication with friends, remote co-workers or those they wish to influence, is primarily by the written word.

His nine pointers cover such topics as how to draft, draft and then re-draft to capture your enthusiasm for something without it sounding like a fourteen-year-old’s diary entry (my words, not his!), how to respond to criticism in a way you can later be proud of, why you should include the context within which you’re writing, and letting just the right amount of personality show through to let your readers know you’re a person, not a company.

Speaking – or rather writing - as one who spends a completely disproportionate amount of time worrying over whether a smiley is or is not appropriate in each instance, if I should say goodbye when an IM seems to have finished (or if that will just string it out to a series of annoying bleeps for someone who is trying to maintain four IM conversations at once), and pressing 'send' then realising I'm probably just sounded rude, over-enthusiastic, impatient or plain ignorant, I’m very grateful to have some ground rules finally written. And in case you’re wondering about the IM thing, the answer from Jake is yes, say goodbye: it’s rude not to.

Do take a look at Jake’s advice here. Bye!