Tweet the way you want to be tweeted
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In the age of expanding online social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as the massive use of e-mail, it’s important for people to use good “netiquette,” or network etiquette.
Cecelia Munzenmaier, a writing and editing consultant, and Kathryn Towner, owner of WinCommunications, an Internet marketing company, gave a lecture about the dos and don’ts of online communication Thursday night at the Memorial Union for the members of Beta Sigma Psi and Pi Beta Phi.
Ed Letcher, sophomore in anthropology and the social chair for Beta Sigma Psi, said he wanted the members of his house to go to the lecture because “many people aren’t aware of what employers look at online and how it can affect their employment.”
“We are entering a more informal age of communication and a lot of people are using that informality in professional settings,” Letcher said.
Titled “Looking Professional Online: Why Facebook Isn’t Always Your Friend,” the session was about the importance of keeping all employees’ Facebook pages clean.
Munzenmaier said 60 to 75 percent of employers search Facebook.
“Employers are looking for a reason not to hire you,” she said. “They want to get that stack of resumes narrowed down.”
Munzenmaier and Towner described employers’ top concerns on employees’ social sites as personal use of alcohol or drugs, provocative photos, poor communication skills and bad mouthing the employers or other employees. Other turn-offs for employers include discriminatory remarks or an unprofessional screen name.
It was also mentioned that posts made on social sites and blogs cannot be deleted, as that information is stored in search engines and Internet archives. Munzenmaier described the general rule for online posts — “If you wouldn’t tell your mother or your grandmother, if you wouldn’t say it if your employer is standing right there, don’t post it.”
Munzenmaier and Towner said that legally, a boss is allowed to monitor all e-mails sent from computers on the company’s network, and that over half of employers fire workers for e-mail and internet abuse.
In addition, all e-mails, whether sent to employers or other employees, should be written formally and with correct grammar.
“The way you communicate, from the context to the grammar, has importance,” Munzenmaier said.
The audience was asked to look at several examples of sentences written with errors. Munzenmaier and Towner emphasized that errors could discredit a person.
Besides good grammar, other advice given for e-mails was to always address the person the message is being sent to, and to always sign it.
The message given to the audience was to be aware of all activity done online. It’s important that people be careful of everything that is posted or sent, and how it is written. Whether they realize it or not, posters are building their personal identities.
Munzenmaier and Towner ended the lecture with some final rules: “Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted and never say anything online you wouldn’t want to be published front page of tomorrow’s paper.”
Cecelia Munzenmaier, a writing and editing consultant, and Kathryn Towner, owner of WinCommunications, an Internet marketing company, gave a lecture about the dos and don’ts of online communication Thursday night at the Memorial Union for the members of Beta Sigma Psi and Pi Beta Phi.
Ed Letcher, sophomore in anthropology and the social chair for Beta Sigma Psi, said he wanted the members of his house to go to the lecture because “many people aren’t aware of what employers look at online and how it can affect their employment.”
“We are entering a more informal age of communication and a lot of people are using that informality in professional settings,” Letcher said.
Titled “Looking Professional Online: Why Facebook Isn’t Always Your Friend,” the session was about the importance of keeping all employees’ Facebook pages clean.
Munzenmaier said 60 to 75 percent of employers search Facebook.
“Employers are looking for a reason not to hire you,” she said. “They want to get that stack of resumes narrowed down.”
Munzenmaier and Towner described employers’ top concerns on employees’ social sites as personal use of alcohol or drugs, provocative photos, poor communication skills and bad mouthing the employers or other employees. Other turn-offs for employers include discriminatory remarks or an unprofessional screen name.
It was also mentioned that posts made on social sites and blogs cannot be deleted, as that information is stored in search engines and Internet archives. Munzenmaier described the general rule for online posts — “If you wouldn’t tell your mother or your grandmother, if you wouldn’t say it if your employer is standing right there, don’t post it.”
Munzenmaier and Towner said that legally, a boss is allowed to monitor all e-mails sent from computers on the company’s network, and that over half of employers fire workers for e-mail and internet abuse.
In addition, all e-mails, whether sent to employers or other employees, should be written formally and with correct grammar.
“The way you communicate, from the context to the grammar, has importance,” Munzenmaier said.
The audience was asked to look at several examples of sentences written with errors. Munzenmaier and Towner emphasized that errors could discredit a person.
Besides good grammar, other advice given for e-mails was to always address the person the message is being sent to, and to always sign it.
The message given to the audience was to be aware of all activity done online. It’s important that people be careful of everything that is posted or sent, and how it is written. Whether they realize it or not, posters are building their personal identities.
Munzenmaier and Towner ended the lecture with some final rules: “Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted and never say anything online you wouldn’t want to be published front page of tomorrow’s paper.”
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