Email. My Nemesis and savior. I can't stand it. While I'd like very much to move entirely to a more fluid and logical comms/capture scenario, my world dictates otherwise. Yep, this is coming from an E2.0 professional with full access and use of wikis, forums, blogs, bookmarking, yadda, yadda... Many of our cultures are still very much cemented in email, and we continue to evolve. In my role I'm required to be a member of some 472 email lists (not counting personal subscriptions). 99% of the of the deluge is content I can ignore. I am a master of filters, rules and auto-responses. I am also regularly surprised by how oblivious otherwise smart and thoughtful people can be around email. Perhaps it's the perceived singularity of the channel. Or maybe they just don't read their email before they hit send? Don't even get me started on reply all... I became sensitive/empathetic to email etiquette as my interaction with the fore mentioned lists increased. If I had to send a dreaded 'all members' email I'd get immediate feedback in the form of 200-300 out of office emails. Before you learn to set up a filter, seeing 200-300 emails hit your inbox all at once can be kind of shocking. I knew there were many more eyes who'd see what I'd sent. 

I remember the first few times I'd been asked to send an 'official' broadcast to a large group. My mouse would hover over the send button while I read the content for the fifth or sixth time, with my body in a tight 'C' shape as I peered at the monitor. It felt like my reputation was on the line. In fact, it sort of was. The funny thing is, I've only partially taken these rules with me to Twitter. If you have the misfortune of following me you've likely borne witness to some entertaining blunders (Just for you, free of charge.). Based on what I've seen from others, I'm not alone. Moreover, it doesn't really matter. Even with the knowledge that I mix business and pleasure on Twitter, the room has a different vibe despite the fact that the numbers are well higher than 200-300. It still strikes me as odd to get a business email from a colleague where all caps are used for emphasis, multiple exclamation points to underscore urgency (always looks like a unfortunately timed spasm to me) or they simply haven't bothered with a salutation of any kind (which usually comes across as "me want!"). Don't get me wrong. I'm the queen of the overused emoticon, a huge fan of slang, and probably one of the worst writers you'll meet. I took my writing tips more from Gertrude Stein than from the Chicago Manual of Style. Just do a punctuation check. I dare you. Most of us walk into our inbox with the acceptance that email is one of the worst communications tools around. I really do get that, but with more and more of our relationships happening in a text only space, should we perhaps think about our written body language? Are we becoming numb to the messages we send that we do not intend? Are they damaging in a business space or are we evolving/devolving to a place where it just doesn't matter? Should we always partition our personal and professional voices? As our personal and professional worlds merge, will we simply let it go?

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/idogcow/391609724/