CHAPTER 5: ELECTRONIC BUSINESS
COMMUNICATIONS
Creating and Delivering Messages that Matter
COMMUNICATION CHANNELS: LEVELS OF
RICHNESS VARY
Memos/Reports
Very Low. No information from tone or body language.
E-Mail
Very Low. No information beyond words.
Instant Message
Very Low. Very few words lead to basic communication.
Voice Mail
Low. The audience gains tone but no body language.
Telephone Conversation
Moderate. The audience benefits from changes in your tone.
Videoconferencing
High. Conveys richness similar to in-person communication.
In-Person Presentation
High. Audience experiences all elements of message.
Face-Face Meeting
Very High. Audience experiences full message most directly.
ELECTRONIC WRITING

Blessing
 Faster
 Simpler
 Spelling/grammar

checkers
Curse
 Faster
 Simpler
 Spelling/grammar
checkers
SPELLBOUND
I have a spelling checker,
It came with my PC,
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I’ve run this poem threw it,
I’m sure your pleased too no,
Its letter-perfect in it’s weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.
E-mail
E-mail

Do not rely on e-mail to address problems.
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
Balance work-related e-mail with telephone calls.
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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.


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.
It is easy to misread between the lines so at work, try to be extra
polite.
If your Internet access is through a corporate account, check
with your employer about their policy regarding private email.
Emoticons
9

Send mature messages at work.

Emoticons such as this smiley :-) in business e-mail, may be interpreted
as too casual.
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
E-mail

Never send chain letters, they are forbidden on the Internet.
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
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

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.
E-mail


If you are forwarding or re-posting a message, don't change the
original wording.
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.
AND REMEMBER: e-mails are forever
TIPS FOR EXCELLENT EMAIL

Consider both your primary and secondary readers.
Keep it short.
Don’t forget to proofread.
Use standard writing.
Avoid attachments.
Don’t assume privacy.
Avoid anything nearing “off-color”
E-mail belongs to your employer!
Respond promptly to e-mails.
Assume the best.
Create a compelling subject line.

Think before you write, and think again before you send!
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Voicemail & Cell Phones
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, I’m busy at the present moment. If this is Anthony, I’ll be
hangin’ until midnight having some brews with the guys. …(beep)
Let’s not forget ring tones…….keep them conservative, no
techno, hip-hop, mission impossible craziness – cackles, crying
etc….
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 4:30 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.
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.
Top 10 Cell Phone Etiquette Rules
People Still Break
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Talking too loudly.
Holding inappropriate conversations in public.
Rudely interrupting conversations.
Checking your phone at the movies.
Texting while driving.
Texting while talking.
Texting small talk.
Loud and annoying ringtones.
Disturbing live performances.
Location, location, location
Texting A&M student caused fatal
wreck
Jury decides that texting A&M student caused fatal wreck, orders him to pay
$22 million
FRANKLIN -- A jury that decided that a Texas A&M University student was texting
while driving and caused a deadly wreck ordered him to pay $22 million in
damages.
The victim, Megan Small of Houston, was a senior at Baylor University and was
driving to Waco when the November 2007 accident happened near Calvert.
The investigation indicated that a vehicle driven by Reed Vestal crossed the center
line and struck Small's vehicle head-on. Phone records indicated that Vestal sent and
received 15 texts and made seven calls in the 45 minutes before the wreck.
The damages will be shared with Small's friend Laura Gleffe, who was driving
another car that rolled during the crash.
Hunter Craft, attorney for the Small family, said Vestal declared bankruptcy before
the civil trial in Franklin.
An attorney for Vestal did not immediately comment.
Posted Friday, Mar. 19, 2010
Facebook
Facebook - Company Figures
20

More than 829 million active users

552 million active users log on to Facebook in any given day

More than 70 million users update their status each day

More than 60 million status updates posted each day

More than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month

More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts,
notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week

More than 3.5 million events created each month

More than 3 million active Pages on Facebook

More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook

More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day

Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans
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.
Mild mannered Ray Clark
during the day
Same guy – is now expelled
from his private Christian
Academy
Employers Background Checking
Process



If you’ve 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
employer’s 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.
Internet
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.
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 company’s databases so you may
maintain the servers?
Dos or Don’ts?





Pointing out the spelling/grammar errors in your
employee’s 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?
What Do You Do?

You receive a particularly upsetting message from
your co-worker that has been cc’d to your boss.
What do you do?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Respond in e-mail immediately stating the fact that this
type of argument is not worth the bandwidth it takes to
send it.
You don’t respond at all
Wait overnight to send a response
None of the above
What Do You Do?

You receive a spam message that is offensive to you.
What do you do?
A.
B.
C.
D.
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
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?
A.
B.
C.
D.
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
What Do You Do?

You just received an email message from an
acquaintance with an attachment file entitled Thankyou.doc. What do you do?
A.
B.
C.
D.
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
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?
A.
B.
C.
D.
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
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 it’s 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 spammer’s Internet provider
Hoaxes


Some pretty incredible hoaxes have been
propagated across the Internet. The hoaxes are
designed to prey upon people’s 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.
LEGAL HEAD, Adams and Co. Chambers.
892 Bulovard - Airport Road - Kumassi,
00233 Kumassi - GHANA.
Good day to you,
My name is Adam Clayton (Esq) From Ghana, I hope my message meets you in good health.
I wish to notify you (again) that you were listed as the beneficiary to a total sum of USD$4,750,000.00 (Four Million
Seven Hundred And Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) in the intent of the deceased (late) Madame Olivia. I
contacted you because you bear the same last name with my deceased client and therefore I can present you as the
beneficiary to the inheritance, since there is no written will from my late client. I received a notification from the Central
Bank (BANK OF GHANA H/Q) that the funds will be confiscated to Government's treasury account as abandoned funds
due to account in-activity for the past 14 Months since she passed away to glory (Natural Cardiac Arrest) at age 68, I
have two weeks only to present a beneficiary in order to avoid this action. Please, I am in need of your support, for I
cannot do this alone.
I am prepared to provide you with all the documents which might be required by the holding Bank to enable them
release this inheritance funds to you. All the papers work required will be processed in your acceptance of this deal as I
am prepared to offer you 45%, 45% for me, while 10% will be set aside for any expenses we pay for during this
transaction, that is to say that any money spent during the period of this transaction will be fully refunded once the fund
has been transferred into your nominated bank account or any other safer means you prefer. I request that you kindly
forward to me your letter of acceptance with the below details via my private email
([email protected])
Your Full Name:
Full Address:
Personal Tel No.
Private Email:
Date of Birth:
I will truly appreciate your response.
Yours sincerely,
Adam Clayton (Esq)
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 Symantec’s website
Safe and Responsible Use of the Internet
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What you do reflects on you
Those are real people out there
Play by the rules
Keep it private
Look your best
Don’t pollute
Remain cool under fire
Read with your eyes open
Respect the creator – Credit the source
Watch where you are looking
Don’t take candy from strangers
Don’t go where you don’t belong
Do your part
Responsible Netizen Institute, http://www.responsiblenetizen.org , July 14, 2003