Maintaining a Professional Online Presence

Posting Rule of Thumb: Do not post anything in an email or on the internet you wouldn't want your grandmother to see. Rest assured, if you post something embarrassing online, sooner or later, someone will see it when you don't want them to. Netiquette Your use of Drew's networking services connects you to the entire Drew Community and to the world via the Internet, therefore reflects on you and on the institution.

What's wrong with this email?

i. Netspeak

Netspeak is the use of convenient abbreviations to write text messages more quickly on a phone or handheld device. The problem is, not everyone uses it, and the person receiving the email may not understand the abbreviations.

Slang is perfectly acceptable to use with friends, but others may not understand what you mean when you use slang.  Using both slang and netspeak creates a language barrier, making it hard to communicate with those who don't use that language.  Try to avoid using them in an educational setting when communicating with faculty members, as well as any professional atmosphere.

All of your college correspondence with regards to academics and administration is professional correspondence.  Developing a professional online presence at the beginning of your college career will develop habits employers will expect you to exhibit consistently.

ii. Subject Lines

In the case of the above email message, the subject line looks just like the subject line for a spam email - it does not have a verb, does not describe the content of the email, and it is designed to look urgent so that you will open it right away. 

Many people immediately delete any message that looks like spam, since so many spam email messages come loaded with malware.  If you want to encourage others to read your email messages, make sure subject lines are appropriate, short, and accurately describe the content of your email. Try to make subject lines unique - generic titles are often interpreted to be junk mail. Examples of generic-looking titles are: "hi," "greetings," "hello," "question?"

If your message is especially long, it is also polite to put a notation like, (long) in the subject line, so that a busy person will know that they need to wait until they have enough time to read your email message thoroughly.

iii. Identify Yourself

Who is "oz_librarian?"  If there is no information in the email address, body text, or sign off/closing at the conclusion of the email message identifying the sender, there is no way for the reader to tell who it is from.  Professors have a difficult time responding to messages like this, because they do not know who such an email might be coming from, or what the student might need help with. 

This is another point in favor of using your Drew email account to send and receive all messages to and from professors and fellow students - the full name of the sender is displayed automatically in the From: line at the top of the email message. 

If you send email to anyone from an outside email account, be sure to sign it with the name that you use in your Drew classes. 

Best Email Practices

i. Identify the Recipient

Is your email going to be Personal or Professional?  It's perfectly acceptable to be informal and use slang, netspeak, and strange subject lines when you are corresponding informally with friends and family.  However, when you are communicating on a professional level - and all of your college correspondence with regards to academics and administration is professional - use the more professional recommendations outlined on this page.

ii. Keep it Formal

You will generally know whether a formal or an informal email message is appropriate. Formal emails are usually utilized to communicate professionally with professors and/or an individual with whom you prefer to maintain a professional relationship. Contrary to formal emails, informal messages are used when the recipient is a much more personal contact. If you are unsure whether or not to use a personal or professional message, maintain a professional format throughout your correspondence.

iii. Presentation

Grammar and Spelling are two crucial criteria necessary to writing a successful, professional email. Remember that the internet is primarily a medium for READING information. In the Information Age, what you post on the internet or in an email may be the only representation of you someone ever encounters; Poor spelling and grammar can make you look less  intelligent.  Before submitting any electronic writing, use a spell check and/or a grammar check program first. If you are unsure about the spelling of a particular word, many world-renowned dictionaries offer some of their content for free. Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary are both excellent sources for checking your spelling before posting email or online content.

Also be aware that you should be careful when writing on personal blogs, posting to discussion forums, or creating other content that can be read later by anyone in the public sphere.  Employers make it a habit to google potential employees in order to investigate their character.  If you are involved in unsavory activities on the internet or your public posts are full of bad grammar and spelling errors, you may be passed over for other candidates who present a more professional online presence. 

iv. Professional Courtesy

Ask politely when requesting for information from an individual. Try to show professional courtesy and respect to your professors and peers.  In doing so, you will be inviting them to extend the same courtesy to you.

Try to be patient while waiting for a reply to an email.  Remember that, as a student, you sometimes outnumber your professors 40- or 50-to-1.  That means that professors may have been contacted by other students before you, so they may have to address others' concerns before being able to respond to yours.  If an issue is urgent, it is probably best for you to speak to professors face-to-face during office hours.  Professors are often willing to make appointments outside of office hours and class time if there is an important problem that needs to be addressed more quickly.

v. Emergency

Overuse of the words "urgent" and "important" in your subject lines can lead to the impression that your email might not actually be important, even in an urgent situation.  Do not tag emails as urgent or important unless they are actually a dire emergency and require immediate resolution. 

vi. Length of Email Messages

Avoid lengthy emails.  Instead, try to make an email only a few lines long. There are certainly situations where that is not entirely possible. If you need to explain something and it will require a long email message, make an appointment to meet with the person instead.  Chances are that if your email is lengthy, the topic is probably important enough to warrant a face-to-face conversation.

vii. If You Must Send a Lengthy Message

There may be instances when you do not have the time to meet with someone face-to-face. If that is the case, indicate in the subject title that the email is lengthy by typing (long) after your short and descriptive title. This will let someone know that they need to take the time to read your message thoroughly.

viii. Closing

Remember to sign off in a respectful and appropriate manner. Usually, a simple sign off  like the one below works best:

                        Thank You,

                         Rico