Email rule and sense

Email is one of the innovations in the 1990s. It has both advantages of mail and telephone. Nowadays, email is an essential tool for business, though SNS is partially replacing it.

However, manners of email writing are still under discussion. Some people recommend not to use BCC (blind carbon copy) at work. I hardly understand this policy.

Before the standard of email writing reached the consensus, SNS infiltrated to our daily life. It considerably changed our mindset. For example, we write a very short message in SNS, like “Ok.” Therefore, some people, especially in youth, sometimes write an email as so. At least in Japan, it seems not a few individuals feel discomfort see such a casual message on an email.

I usually begin to write an email to “Dear Mr. Smith,” and end with “Best Wishes.” As a first generation users of email, I recognize it as a convenient alternative to paper mail. Therefore, I am conscious of adhering the manners of mail except in a close relationship.

In contrast, so-called digital native generations tend to identify the email as a legacy. They frequently contact with their friends using Twitter, Facebook, and Line. These services equip some communication aids such as “like” button and picture stamps. Therefore, they need not care about the receiver through adhering traditional rules. And they tend to introduce this sense into email as well.

It is not surprising that an inpricit convention is changing. The next generation will invent a new method of communication which is far from our imagination.

By the way, email is so easy to use that we receive an enormous number of emails every day. For a sender, it is fearful if an important message is mixed with many junk emails in the receiver’s folder. Therefore, several methods to attract the attention of the receiver have been tried.

For example, a proper message should not either be enthusiastic or neutral, according to a survey. Suggestive tone to some extent gains good response. And, adequate length of words in an email is just 100.

The Atlantic: The Perfect Email

To be honest, I cannot evaluate these comments in this article above. I am not familiar with dealing with English emails. Actually, I often fail to get a reply via email even in an important business contact. Perhaps, my email is hardly understandable for readers due to the poor English description. On the other hand, I do not want to trust those who do not reply to emails. This dilemma is complex because of communication gap in a foreign language.