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The 8 Rules of Smartphone Etiquette
From using emoticons to texting late at night, your phone can get you in trouble if you're not careful. Here are a few guidelines to help you properly separate business and pleasure.
Posted 12/ 15 10 at 11:00 PM | Business Trends, Technology, Management, Business Travel, Telecommunications
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SUnfortunately, the freedom presented by the latest mobile devices also provides opportunities for workaholic business owners, go-getter employees and demanding clients to frequently cross the line between professional and way-too-personal behavior. Have you lost sight of professional smartphone etiquette? Here are some rules of engagement to keep in mind.
Rule No. 1: Be considerate.
Before you initiate a texting or instant messaging session, ask if the person on the other end is available. If the answer is "no," ask when he or she will be free. Likewise, if a business contact sends you a message, and you can't give the conversation your full attention, be honest. Then graciously provide the person with a better time to connect. "Don't go off on a rant on a business matter without asking contacts first if they are free to talk," says Kristen Ruby, founder and CEO of Ruby Media Group, a social media marketing and PR agency, says. And be patient. "You shouldn't expect the same immediate response you get when texting or IMing with friends or family members. Give people the same response window you would with traditional e-mail correspondence."
Rule No. 2: Remember the concept of "business hours."
With so much access to so many different forms of communication, as a business owner you can easily forget that not everyone works 24/7. "I've definitely been guilty of e-mailing or text messaging someone back too quickly from my cell phone or trying to schedule a meeting for well after regular office hours," Ruby says. "Not everyone wants to work beyond traditional business hours or on the weekends. It's really not proper etiquette to contact business partners late at night or on weekends, but during the workday and until 7-9 p.m. is usually fine."
With so much access to so many different forms of communication, as a business owner you can easily forget that not everyone works 24/7. "I've definitely been guilty of e-mailing or text messaging someone back too quickly from my cell phone or trying to schedule a meeting for well after regular office hours," Ruby says. "Not everyone wants to work beyond traditional business hours or on the weekends. It's really not proper etiquette to contact business partners late at night or on weekends, but during the workday and until 7-9 p.m. is usually fine."
Rule No. 3: Only contact the people you talk to regularly.
Emma
Rule No. 4: Put your phone away during face-to-face meetings.
Thanks to technology
Rule No. 5: Texts and IMs should be reserved for simple, non-critical topics.
Avoid the temptation to use instant communication as a way to immediately get in touch about an emergency. Real professional emergencies -- especially when they involve emotional or controversial topics -- require voice-to-voice and often even face-to-face communication. Communications expert and public speaker Lisa B. Marshall says a text message "is a short message, not an e-mail or a meeting. If the message you want to deliver is important or lengthy, you must call, meet in person or video chat." If the topic you're texting about could produce a complicated discussion, schedule a phone call or at least craft a clear, concise e-mail. Marshall says this rule is especially important for companies that have international clients, because specific words can have very different meanings that get lost in writing.
Rule No. 6: Be wary of abbreviations and emoticons.
Before you go hog wild with acronyms and smiley faces, consider who you're texting, e-mailing or IMing. In most cases, colloquial abbreviations like "LOL" and any emoticons shouldn't appear in messages to professional contacts, but use your best judgment. "Younger generations -- for example, my interns -- prefer texting over conversation," Marshall explains. You might be very comfortable with texting. But you have to realize that older clients and business contacts may not use it very often and thus might not know about common abbreviations. When deciding how to engage with people with your smartphone, consider their comfort zone: "When I text a younger person, I use standard abbreviations," Marshall says, "but when I communicate with clients or business contacts closer to my age, I use proper spelling and grammar."
Rule No. 7: Never send sensitive information.
According to Marshall, due to sensitive information -- such as files, links and passwords -- being texted freely between younger employees, all her websites were compromised, causing significant downtime. "Recently, all my websites were hacked, complete with red skulls and crossbones." She adds that the failure of an employee to adhere to Rule No. 6 when posting public messages online caused additional confusion for visitors to her websites. "I asked an intern to take down our main page and put up a brief message explaining we would return when the website was recovered. She posted 'BRB' on the page, and many of my clients were confused by the message, unaware that 'BRB' stood for 'Be Right Back.'"
Rule No. 8: Stay professional. Even though texts and IM are by nature more casual than other forms of communication, the quality of your instant messages are still a reflection of your business and expertise. Make sure to spell check and not write like an over-excited teenager. Marshall says, "I often chat online with listeners of my podcast," she says. "In doing so, I've discovered that IM and text message conversation skills are a critical part of relationship building and networking. Turn-taking still exists, as it does in a regular conversation. Be sure to answer questions, but also ask questions so the conversation can move forward. Delivering compliments and constructive criticism gets attention, but it will not build a relationship."
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Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Technology should help instead of being the culprit! My friend who works at Wells Fargo told me that his team's meeting productivity would increase 40% or more if everyone wasn't texting and checking their texts during meetings.
After my three year old daughter was nearly run down by a texting driver last fall I invented an app to manage texting whether the user is at home, in the office or on the road. The full version has GPS road safety features but the simple text Auto Reply version called OTTER-urban offers a timer and unlimited, grouped, customizable responses. Its simple and easy to schedule "texting blackout periods" so you can focus on the task at hand, like an important meeting. Maybe technology can help us get back to doing one thing at a time with quality results.
Erik Wood, owner
OTTER LLC
OTTER app
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ALICE, please don't type until you have something to say. Also, don't hate....your issues are obivious...
One problem nowadays with so many Obama type people receiving free cell phones is the ability to spell words. My boss said he will receive messages from employees which he was forced to hire because of Obama and he cannot read the message since they apparently use use their ebonic type spelling. Obama himself was asked at a spelling BEE to spell the simple word "FARM". He spelled it EIEIO.
They aren't illegal here. Many hotels use them to drive up phone bills.
Sadly, Alice has proven herself to be a racist idiot.
If you go to E-Bay and type in "Cell Phone Jammer" you can purchase a device that will prevent anyone within 100 feet from using their cell phone. Most people are annoying when they talk in public and this is a way to shut them up and allow you to have some peace. They are becoming very popular but of course illegal here in the USA. In Europe, most movie theaters and restaurants use a permanent jammer to keep people from annoying other customers. It has become very bad here in the USA since most Afro Americans receive free cell phones and minutes because of an Obama plan to keep peace among them.
It is unfortunate that Alice feels the need to make such racist comments particularly using President Obama's. Alice's ignorant political views are really not relevant to the conversation that ANYONE was having...it's too bad that she can't read.
. "Not everyone wants to work beyond traditional business hours or on the weekends. It's really not proper etiquette to contact business partners late at night or on weekends, but during the workday and until 7-9 p.m. is usually fine."
14 hour days are traditional work days? Where is 14 hour days normal, oh yeah, people that don't have a house, family, responsibilities.
and don't connect to someones personal wifi network unless they've given the go ahead... I'm trying to use it already and you're killing my bandwidth!
Do us all a favor. If you are in a meeting, at a seminaror even at a regular appointment out of your office, SHUT THE DAMN THING OFF!
It is impossibly rude to be with a client, customers or other professionals and have your phone summon you. I grow very weary of people answering calls during conferences or appointments. That's what the message function is for. And if you're with a client, that person is paying for your time. For the duration of that appointment, they deserve your undivided attention.
You are not that important that, unless you are an emergency or transplant surgeon, that you need to be available during another client's time. Shut the phone off and your inferiority complex with it.
ok so... i think those of you who have touch phones.... you might wanna lock the screen or put the phone up when youre out cheating on your partner or talking about certain sexual activities you dont want your dad to accidently hear. ive had so many friends get in trouble because they "pocket" dialed someone.
sadly Alice is just a plain rude bigot.
All the tips provided are common sense, in my mind. If people are rude in person, their behavior will be presented digitally as well.
I never have to worry about getting/receiving texts at a bad time: I don't pay for a texting package, so I don't use it for communicating. Why pay for texting when I am required to pay for a data plan that provides e-mail?
I stongly agree with JohnFConnecticut. If my cell phone rings, or I receive a text alert, while I'm in a meeting or simply having a conversation with someone I silence my phone and ocntinue the conversation as if it never happened. Many times I'm asked, "Do you want to get that?" and I say, "No." I can't tell you how many times they are impressed that I act as if they deserve my full attention. And, they do.
I have to laugh, I really do, so I will, I am...How does one become a
" Communications expert?"
How about reminding the kids that it is rude to text when you have been invited out to a family dinner. You should leave your cell phone OFF and in your car so you will not be distracted. Also, don't even think about bringing that phone into a movie theater.