Task 4 Digital Etiquette

Digital etiquette refers to use of good manners in online communication, It is a basic set of rules pertaining to behavior that needs to be followed to ensure the internet is better for all users.
Society users show more affection, more open and less guarded when they are online.
It affects on productivity: an employee being distracted and unable to perform his best work. it effects  physical and psychological well-being.
-type in caps
- spam
- use offensive language
- steal other people's identity
- distribute illegal material
- expect a response straight away
- reply-all, for a personal conversation

 ARTICLE 1

Bright Sparks| Business Etiquette - The Edge Over Your Competition

 

Published:Tuesday | May 10, 2016 | 12:00 AM

Etiquette is one of the most often overlooked facets of successful business. A new generation of business owners and employees, from large corporations to small companies, seem to regard manners in the workplace as passé . Presenting themselves with polish and professionalism is not a concern. Treating customers, clients and colleagues with respect and courtesy have no value. These people are blind to the fact that they are losing business everyday by ignoring the details that build relationships and drive customers to their doors.

In the best of times, etiquette can give you the edge over your competition. In difficult times, manners will set you apart. There are any number of companies that can offer the same services and products as you. The critical difference is ultimately how you make people feel when they do business with you. Manners are the missing link. Excellence in etiquette will send you over the top.

So how do you create a culture of courtesy in business?

You make etiquette a value at every level of your organisation. Everyone plays a role. Executives and business owners model good manners. They treat their employees with kindness and respect. They provide them with training in business etiquette. They recognise and reward those employees who present themselves and the organisation with polish and professionalism.

Here are some of the areas where successful business people focus to achieve excellence in etiquette:

Beginning with first impressions, no facet of workplace nd online is as impressive as your handshake, your voicemail greeting and your personal appearance. Simple violations of email etiquette have derailed many careers.

MANNERS ARE IMPORTANT

Phone courtesy counts. While the telephone may seem to be playing second fiddle to email, phone courtesy can never be overlooked. Your tone of voice and your choice of words can turn that customer on or off in a heartbeat.

The technology that brought us the cell phone, the smartphone and all their cousins has taken rudeness to a new level. We often treat our portable communication devices with more importance than the customers, clients and colleagues who are standing in front of us.

Excellence in etiquette extends to networking opportunities and how we conduct ourselves at business/social events. When you are trying to make connections and build relationships, manners make the difference.

Dining skills have suffered as much as business dress in the past few years. Too much business is conducted over meals to let table manners go by the wayside.

Your standards of etiquette should be as high when interacting with co-workers and colleagues as they are when you are dealing with clients. Showing courtesy and respect to your co-workers has a definite impact on productivity and profitability.

No matter your business, excellence in etiquette is vital to the company culture. You will win over potential clients and keep your current ones by meeting them on a path that has been outlined and understood for generations. Your business will attract and retain the respect and loyalty of those who work with you and for you.

Adding polish will always build profits.

- Michelle Parkes is a certified etiquette consultant. She can be reached atbright.sparkes@hotmail.com.

ARTICLE 2

Cell mates: Minding your mobile manners

BY RICHARD BRANSON

Image: 123rf.com

Popular Now in Metro

• Kota Damansara residents say neighbour yet to tear down illegal extension despite MBPJ notice
• Early bird gets the curry mee
• Passport to another world
• Blame game over sewerage upgrade
• Keeping a close watch on peatland

Smartphones have become such an important part of modern life that it would seem people just can’t put their devices down, whether while driving down the road or in the middle of an important meeting. Houston, we may have a problem.

THE issue of smartphone etiquette has been coming up in my business meetings lately.

If I were asked to name the one device that has changed the world and the way we live in it, I would choose the smartphone over the personal computer. There are currently more than seven billion active mobile phone subscriptions — roughly the same number as the world’s total population.

The smartphone’s sudden ubiquity explains why manners have become such a problem.

Calling the device a “phone” is tantamount to calling Beethoven’s Fifth Symphonya “tune.” My favorite description of the smartphone comes from a friend who is fond of saying, “OK, time to engage my alternate brain”, as he reaches for his phone to Google some piece of obscure information — usually to definitively settle an argument.

My first mobile phone was given to me as a gift by Motorola, just before Virgin’s 1985 attempt at breaking the record for fastest Atlantic crossing by a ship — or in our case, a 32-tonne speedboat, the Virgin Atlantic Challenger.

The device came with a big home phone-style handset that was attached by a cord to a snazzy leather briefcase that housed the battery and whatever else made it all work.

The whole thing weighed at least five pounds. I recall using it a couple of times in New York City and thinking, “This might catch on if only they could make it smaller.”

Unfortunately, the Challenger and my fancy new phone ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic a few days later, after we struck a submerged object and sank in seconds, just short of the Isles of Scilly, to the southwest of England. We were rescued by a passing banana boat.

No one foresaw how completely these devices would transform our lives, enabling everything from personal banking in developing nations to disruptive taxi services in developed ones. I have often wondered how I would have reacted if someone had approached me 25 years ago and said, “Richard, I have this really interesting idea for a camera that doubles as a telephone.”

I hope I would have said, “Sounds great, tell me more,” though we’ll never know for sure.

But let’s return to the present. Since I’m not a digital native, I am very aware about when I choose to use my smartphone and why. If you’re a business leader or entrepreneur, it’s important to think about how you share your ideas.

How many times have you sent a series of texts or emails when a single phone call would have been more expeditious? How many times have you sent a text to someone a few offices away rather than walk down the corridor and talk to them directly?

To conduct a meaningful dialogue, you need to look the other person in the eye. Whether you are contacting colleagues, suppliers or investors, consider which form of communication works best for your message.

Ask yourself: Will this help to cement the business relationship?

Similarly, you can’t afford to let your phone distract you at critical moments. I was recently in a half-hour business meeting with about a dozen people, several of whom spent at least 20 of the 30 minutes on whispered phone calls and/or thumbing furiously at texts and emails.

Such behaviour is noticed and, rather than making the perpetrator appear important, is just plain disrespectful to the person leading the meeting. The message it sends is simple: “I have more important things to do than attend this meeting.”

Call me old-fashioned, but if something is so important that it cannot wait, the best way to handle it is to say, “I’m sorry, I have to step outside and take care of this.”

Ultimately, business is about relationships. No matter how great your pitch or product is, if you don’t win and maintain the trust of investors, employees, customers and everyone else involved in keeping your enterprise going, it will falter quickly.

For an entrepreneur, gaining that kind of support requires listening skills — which means that you have to put your phone down.

When I was shipwrecked, I didn’t cling to my weighty mobile phone, as it would likely have dragged me with it to the bottom of the ocean. Don’t let yours endanger your business career. — Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate

Questions from readers will be answered in future columns. Please send them to Richard. Branson@nytimes.com. Please include your name, country, e-mail address and the name of the website or publication where you read the column.

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is founder of the Virgin Group. He became an entrepreneur at 16 and made his first million at the age of 25.