Office Netiquette: Instant Messaging
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Instant Messaging Best Practices
Since many companies have yet to formalise their rules of netiquette as it relates to IMs, an unsuspecting employee who uses instant messaging can wind up in hot water. Fortunately, there are some general standards and practices that are beginning to govern the world of instant messaging. Here are some suggestions from admins who regularly use instant messaging at work:
Use Your "Away" Status Message: "If you just leave your portal open all the time, you can get distracted easily with the constant pop-ups, and it can get very difficult to focus on the tasks at hand," says Jason Bergund, who relies on instant messaging to coordinate complicated activities between a suite of editing bays and their production teams. "I custom-design my status messages to let people know when I'm busy, at lunch, on a phone call or working on a detailed document -- so they know that I'm busy without my having to respond to each and every instant-message query right in the moment."
Keep It Professional: "Instant messages can get really lengthy, because they offer such an easy way to communicate," says Dana Bilbao, who works in production for an entertainment company. "Also, conversations have a tendency to get intimate very quickly, because instant messaging can almost be like talking to yourself." Bilbao restricts her instant-messaging sessions to pertinent information, and she politely bows out when things start to get too personal.
