What is Your Face in Cyberspace?

What image do you project on-line? Do your e-mail messages and personal Web page convey an accurate reflection of your personality? Many professionals who take great pains in developing their work and effectiveness are tempted to shortcut when they enter the instantaneous world of cyberspace.

No technology in the history of humankind has afforded us a quicker, more efficient, and comprehensive way to interact with others. However, if we become rushed or a bit lax in our e-mail habits we run the risk of undermining some of our good work in promoting excellence and quality in the counseling profession. Here are a few tips that may help improve your e-mail etiquette:

1. Make your subject line specific. When a subject line says "Greetings" or 'Hi", the message runs the danger of being ignored by the recipient who may be overwhelmed with hundreds of e-mail messages. Be careful not to overuse the "Reply" function. Sending a long message back to the original drafter with a curt reply may be quick and task-oriented, but the person may have to scroll through a long original draft to find your few words of response.

2. When replying or forwarding an e-mail, "clean it up." We have all received e-mail messages that have been forwarded unedited through a string of successive recipients. Does my busy professional colleague really need to see all this stuff? As originators and problem-solvers, perhaps we should be doing more than forwarding verbiage.

3. Address and sign your e-mail's and include a concise signature block with appropriate numbers. I can't count the times I’ve quickly looked at a friend's last e-mail message because his/her telephone number or e-mail address wasn't handy or had changed. It's also a bit frustrating to receive an e-mail message when you are not quite sure who sent it.

4. Don't TYPE IN ALL CAPS. THE MESSAGE OFTEN SEEMS UNNECESSARILY INTENSE.

Remember that electronic communication is evolving; it will take a while to find its proper etiquette and niche. E-mail brings a sort of urgency that seems to demand an instant response. You don't hear the sender's tone of voice. It is ephemeral, yet irrevocable. When I e-mail a friend, I am often grateful that I already know the person because the brevity of many e-mail messages sets a ripe condition for misunderstanding. E-mail is also a great convenience - for the sender. It is often assumed that the recipient has infinite time and interest.

How about your Web site? Does it convey an accurate, attractive picture of who you are? Are you cautious about the quality of the "links" your page offers to those who visit your site? Our links should represent our professional judgment about what might really be of good value to our visitors. Because the computer cuts our "physical face and presence" out of the communication process, we must be especially careful that we construct our "electronic faces" appropriately. Perhaps you can ask a good friend if your Web page is an accurate reflection of who you are.

Computers quite simply allow us to interact "more." In this case, the "more" must also be "better." On-line capabilities can elevate and enhance human interaction. Let's be careful to inject our personalities into our technology, not the other way around.

Last update: May 3, 2001
Copyright 2001, Association for Assessment in Counseling, All Rights Reserved
http://aac.ncat.edu/