We all know how to communicate on official mails and chats — brevity and preciseness is the way to go to, along with being formal. But what happens when you have to communicate on social media? Where should you be formal and when goofy? How should you post on social networking sites? This is a conundrum that has many an employee baffled. Harvard Business Review lists out a few points, that should make posting updates more fun and less embarrassing.
Relax : The biggest plus point about online interaction is that is much less formal than traditional business communication. If you tweet boring sentences that look like sentences off a tele-prompter in a newsroom, you’ll probably come across as a boring, pompous person who doesn’t know how to have fun.
But just right : While there are some who’re too formal, the ones on the opposite end are those who don’t know where to draw line between informal and uncomfortable. It’s all right to be goofy on your Facebook wall, where your friends list comprises of close buddies, but if you’re engaging with a larger audience, professional restraint must be applied.
Be funny… but cautiously : If you’re looking at building followers, humour always finds its place in online writing. You can kid about a wide range of general topics — gentle self-deprecation, sports, parenting, or weather. But remember — when in doubt, don’t forward it.
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