Basics

Stands for “electronic mail” Digital message sent over the internet Primarily text but can include pictures, sound and attachments Instant

URL vs. address URL:   Includes www. Or  For organizations; for mass communication/marketing Address:  Personalized (steve)  sign  No www.  For direct communication between individuals  We recommend using your full name as your username; it’s more professional

Passwords Provides security so only you can sign in to your account Make sure you can remember it and do not share with anyone else Should be at least 8 characters To be safest, include at least one lowercase letter, UPPERCASE letter, $ymbol, and number Examples:   H3ll02U!  Ca5h-money

CC and BCC Carbon Copy (CC): Send the to someone who needs to know the information, but isn’t the target of the message. Example 1: you send an to your school counselor about changing your schedule and Cc your mom. You don’t expect your mom to reply, just the counselor, but this way she can see what you are asking the counselor to do. Example 2: you send an to your supervisor letting her know you will be out sick the next day, and you Cc your co-workers so they are also aware that you won’t be there to help out. Blind Carbon Copy (BCC): Sends the to a recipient who remains invisible to everyone else on the . No one else (including the person in the “To” column) will know that someone else is included on the . It is recommended that you do not use this function in a work environment.

Other common functions Forwarding: sends a message that you received to someone else on to a new person  Automatically inserts “FW” into subject field (this is the polite way to forward) Reply: sends a message back just to the person who ed you directly Reply all: sends a message back to everyone who was included in the original you received  Use reply all when you need to respond to everyone in the “To” and “Cc” fields  Do not use reply all when the information is only important to the person who sent the

Etiquette Fill in the subject line Use professional greetings and closings (Dear ___, Thank you, Best, etc.) Use correct capitalization, grammar, punctuation Don’t use all CAPITALS! Also, only capitalize the first letter of the sentence and proper nouns  DO: Hello! I am excited to meet you next Tuesday.  DO NOT:  HELLO! I AM EXCITED TO MEET YOU.  Hello! I Am Excited To Meet You.

Attachments Indicated by paper clip icon! A file that is sent along with the , but isn’t part of the body of the Do not open attachments from senders you don’t know or trust! (VIRUSES)

Do not send your personal information via . Social security, bank, etc.

Spam Spam is unsolicited commercial s— unwanted ads in your inbox Sample subjects:  “RE: Pharmacy sale 80% off!”  From a friend with a strange message : “I made $100 for 5 minutes of work and you can too!” Don’t even open these s