Netiquette

• Knowing the Internet culture is important to your company's online image
• The Internet offers a level playing field. No one knows your gender, age color, religion or other characteristics that lead to prejudice and bias.
• Find out where it is appropriate to place your messages/ ads/ marketing efforts. There's a place for everything. Put something where it's not wanted, and you'll likely get "flamed".
• Geographic location isn't much of an issue on the Internet. You can be searching a library's database in London one minute, and five minutes later log on to a computer in Hong Kong.
• Give back to the community by providing free services and information and by fostering exchange of ideas.

Advertising Verses Marketing

• Advertising = Designed to get attention; contains hype.
• Marketing = Provides useful information about products and services with the intention of creating interest/ provoking a communication exchange that ultimately gets customer to buy.

Tips for Effective Online Communication

Online etiquette is often referred to as "netiquette".
Remember: You are communicating with real people, not machines.

• Some service providers have rules against sending commercial-type messages. Find out your service provider's policies.
• Use the same courtesy as you would extend someone you are having a phone conversation with.
• Don't entice a flame and don't participate in flamefests. Flaming occurs when you send a message that provokes an angry, and often nasty, response. When others join in, a full-fledged flamefest ensues.
• Use the same rules regarding good grammar, punctuation and word choice as you would for any written communication. Special symbols composed from combinations of ASCII characters called Cyber Smileys :-) are often used to envoke feelings of the writer and communicate nonverbal information.
• Don't type your message in all capital letters ­ they're hard to read. This is known as SHOUTING and may provoke flaming.
• Some Email systems occasionally become plagued with electronic versions of chain letters. Don't participate in them.
• Use the subject line to give recipients an idea of the message's contents.
• Use the correct address.
• Keep quotations/ excerpts to a minimum when responding to Email you have received.
• Check the validity of any message you receive that asks you to do something questionable.
• Don't use vulgar language or make sexist comments.