Chapter Seven and Social Media for Business Communication McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7-2 Learning Objectives LO7.1 Apply principles for writing effective s. LO7.2 Explain how to handle emotion effectively in online communications. LO7.3 Describe strategies for managing digital message overload. LO7.4 Explain characteristics of the emerging Social Age. LO7.5 Apply principles of effective social media use in professional settings. LO7.6 Build a credible online reputation. LO7.7 Describe the ethical use of social media for work.

7-3 Most Effective Communication Channels for Coordinating Work Table 7.1

7-4 Creating Effective s  communication is the primary form of written business communication.  Most analysts expect it to be the primary tool for at least the next five to ten years in most companies

7-5 Principles of Effective s Use for the right purposes. Ensure ease of reading. Show respect for time. Protect privacy and confidentiality.

7-6 Principles of Effective s Respond promptly. Maintain professionalism and appropriate formality. Manage emotion effectively. Avoid distractions.

7-7 Use for the Right Purposes  communication has few constraints (low cost, little coordination) and high control (the writer can think them out carefully, and they provide a permanent record)  It is rarely appropriate for sensitive or emotional communication tasks. It is also inefficient for facilitating discussions

7-8 Ensure Ease of Reading  Provide a Short, Descriptive Subject Line  Keep Your Message Brief Yet Complete  Clearly Identify Expected Actions  Provide a Descriptive Signature Block  Use Attachments Wisely

7-9 Less-Effective

7-10 More-Effective Figure 7.2

7-11 Show Respect for Others’ Time  Select Message Recipients Carefully  Provide Timelines and Options  Be Careful about Using the Priority Flag  Let Others Know When You Will Take Longer than Anticipated to Respond or Take Action  Avoid Contributing to Confusing and Repetitive Chains

7-12 Appropriate Response Time to s Figure 7.3

7-13 Maintain Professionalism and Appropriate Formality  Avoid Indications That You View as Casual Communication  Apply the Same Standards of Spelling, Punctuation, and Formatting You Would for Other Written Documents  Use Greetings and Names

7-14 Manage Emotion and Maintain Civility  Neutrality effect  recipients are more likely to perceive messages with an intended positive emotion as neutral  Negativity effect  recipients are more likely to perceive messages that are intended as neutral as negative

7-15 Manage Emotion and Maintain Civility  Flames  s or other digital communications with “hostile intentions characterized by words of profanity, obscenity, and insults that inflict harm to a person or an organization.”  Cyber silence  nonresponse to s and other communications.

7-16 Manage Emotion and Maintain Civility  Cyber incivility  violation of respect and consideration in an online environment based on workplace norms  Active, passive

7-17 Manage Emotion and Maintain Civility  Reinterpretation  involves adjusting your initial perceptions by making more objective, more fact-based, and less personal judgments and evaluations  Relaxation  involves releasing and overcoming anger and frustration so that you can make a more rational and less emotional response.

7-18 Less-Effective Response to an Angry Figure 7.6

7-19 Manage Emotion and Maintain Civility  Defusing  involves avoiding escalation and removing tension to focus on work objectives.

7-20 More-Effective Response to Defuse an Angry Figure 7.7

7-21 Guidelines to Staying Responsive to Others 1. Check digital messages just two to four times each day at designated times 2. Turn off message alerts 3. Use rich channels such as face-to-face and phone conversations to accomplish a task completely 4. Avoid unnecessarily lengthening an chain 5. Use automatic messages to help people know when you’re unavailable

7-22 The Evolving Workplace Figure 7.8

7-23 Communicating in the Workplace in the Social Age  Social Age  an era in which people engage in networked communication, collaborate across boundaries, and solve problems communally.

7-24 Characteristics of the Social Age  Web 1.0  most Web pages were read-only and static  Web 2.0  read-write Web, where users interact extensively with Web pages—authoring content, expressing opinions, and customizing and editing Web content among other things

7-25 Comparisons Between User 1.0 and User 2.0 Table 7.2

7-26 Characteristics of the Social Age  Increasingly, companies are adopting social networking platforms that contain Web 2.0 communication tools  These platforms contain many of the features available on social networking websites: user profiles, microblogs, blogs, wikis, and file uploading.

7-27 Benefits and Challenges of Social Media in the Workplace Table 7.3

7-28 Internal Communication Tools for the Social Age  Organize Your Dashboard to Control Your Communication and Information Flow  Create a Complete and Professional Profile  Use Blogs for Team Communication  Use Wikis for Team Communication  Other Social Media Tools

7-29 Sample Dashboard with Enterprise Social Software Figure 7.9

7-30 Use Blogs for Team Communication  Microblogs (such as Twitter)  shorter blogs that contain just a few sentences, are part of most enterprise social networking platforms  tools for broadcasting announcements and urgent information  Team blogs, project blogs

7-31 Sample Team Blog Figure 7.10

7-32 Use Wikis for Team Communication  Wikis  collections of pages that anyone with approved access can edit, thus lending themselves to collaborative writing.  allow employees to collaborate and participate in decision making more easily, creatively, and effectively  create a culture of transparency, simplicity, and openness

7-33 Sample Wiki in Edit Mode Figure 7.11

7-34 Guidelines for Using Social Media in the Workplace  Be an Active Contributor and Participate Often  Listen and Learn  Focus on Content  Make Your Content Accessible  Make Your Messages Authentic and Friendly  Be Responsive and Help Others  Respect Boundaries

7-35 Manage Your Online Reputation  Personal brand  A unique set of professional skills and attributes that others associate with you

7-36 Developing a Credible Online Reputation Table 7.5

7-37 Less-Effective Personal Social Networking Profile

7-38 More-Effective Personal Social Networking Profile

7-39 Use Social Media Ethically  Much more than your online reputation is at stake with social media use; the reputation and performance of your company is at stake as well  The line between what you believe is private use of social media and your role as an employee can be murky, since your private actions can damage your employer and hurt your career.

7-40 Coca-Cola’s Social Media Guidelines 1. Adhere to the Code of Business Conduct and other applicable policies. 2. You are responsible for your actions. 3. Be a “scout” for compliments and criticism. 4. Let the subject matter experts respond to negative posts. 5. Be conscious when mixing your business and personal lives.