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E- Zine - November 2004 WELCOME to the PROTOCOL PLUS MONTHLY E-ZINE IN TODAY'S ISSUE:
Tips to Outclass Your Competition – Is e-mail defining your life? The University of Southern California Center for the Digital Future is conducting a ten year study identifying the 10 Major Trends Emerging in the Internet’s first Decade of Public Use. Everyone tells me they are on e-mail overwhelm, so I have included the e-mail portion of the USC study. I’ve also included a quick one-question survey to find out often you feel users should respond to e-mail. To read the entire report go to http://www.digitalcenter.org/pages/news_content.asp?intGlobalId=125&intTypeId=1 Major Trend #9. E-mail: “E-Nuff” Already? “E-mail is still the single most important reason people go online. E-mail is a tremendous convenience, and for most users, it is a free service with enormous benefits. E-mail opens opportunities to communicate more often and with a much broader circle of people than we ever reach by telephone or by mail. “E-mail is certainly a great convenience, but it is also a great irritation,” Cole said. “What user today doesn’t voice some concern about e-mail – spam, inbox overload, time commitments required to respond – in addition to its benefits? No Internet user wants to get rid of their e-mail, but they are tired of e-mail defining their lives.” One of the more interesting findings in the Digital Future Project is that we may be seeing the first hints that the most experienced users are not going to answer e-mail as often as they used to: new users think e-mail needs to be answered faster than do the experienced users. While e-mail is used regularly by practically everyone, a “common etiquette” for its use has not yet emerged. Thus far, no commonly accepted conventions about dealing with e-mail: how quickly should users respond? What types of correspondence should be handled electronically? Do users need to respond to every e-mail?” Survey question: How many times during the day should e-mail users read and respond to e-mail? E-mail gloria@protocolplus.net and put your answer in the subject line. The results will be in next month’s e-zine. Digital Age Protocol is a vital communication tool for business success. Visit http://www.protocolplus.net/seminar/techno.html to find how you can eliminate costly digital age mistakes. The Coach’s Corner – What happened to the cottage? “A woman was riding on a train. Suddenly she caught sight of a white cottage on a hillside. Against the backdrop of dark green grass, the cottage sparkled in the sun and was a lovely sight. Months later the same woman was on the same train. Now it was winter, and snow covered the ground. The woman remembered the cottage and watched for it. This time she was shocked. Against the backdrop of the sparkling snow, the cottage looked dirty and drab. There’s a lesson here. We tend to compare ourselves with those around us. The story of the cottage shows how misleading this can be. It all depends on who happens to be around us when we make our judgment.” From Challenge by Mark Link, S.J. The way we look at things makes a difference. If I asked you to think of your life as a season, what would you say? Spring? Fall? Summer? Winter? The answer doesn’t matter – each is just a different perspective – the way you see things - like the woman on the train. Pick a situation going on in your life right now. Coaching questions:
Quotes of the Month – Thanksgiving/Holiday Etiquette “There’s a reason you don’t have pictures of your office at home.” --- CitiBank ad “People are moving so fast these days, and everyone seems to follow a “Cliff Notes” version of listening. As a result, listeners’ responses miss the mark.” --- Paul Niccum, Pres., Statsol Corporation Ask the Expert - Thanksgiving/Holiday Etiquette Back to News & Articles |