E-tiquette - Emoticons in Your Email

In the latest issue of Shape Magazine (April 2011) there are some tips on what's called "E-tiquette." E-tiquette refers to etiquette online in the workplace. One of the suggestions from Peggy Duncan, author of Conquer E-mail overload with Better Habits, Etiquette, and Outlook, was that emoticons, smiley faces, winking faces, etc. shouldn't be used in business emails. Her guideline is that if you wouldn't write it on the company letterhead - then don't write it in an email.

However, we need to look at how we currently communicate in the workplace. People are communicating with various people they've never met or spoken with on the phone, so they communicate through email. We all know that people can get in the habit of reading something into emails that the sender didn't infer at all. Emoticons can help clear up that message.

Now I'm not saying that emoticons should be used in every email or is appropriate to use when crafting an email to your CEO, but it could be useful to help clarify the tone of your email.

Sending a message by email is the most frequent way we communicate nowadays. Most people send more emails in a day than they talk to people in real life. Why? Because it's efficient. Some people are hard to reach by phone, but the majority of business folks have some sort of email capable device. And most people are glued to those devices.

Back to the advice of Ms. Peggy Duncan - emoticons can be useful, just make sure that you're using them appropriately. Happy emailing :)