Online Public Relations Thoughts

We've known since the beginning of e-mail that one must be careful in expressing feelings. A recipient may misjudge the emotion. Well, here is an experiment that shows just how hard it is to determine the feelings of a person on the other end of an e-mail. The subjects didn't do much better than random guessing, yet they were sure they knew how the other person felt. This is a set-up for misunderstanding. No wonder emoticons were popular from the beginning of e-mail.

But, it is easy to forget how hard it is to express emotion in print and have it understood accurately. My belief is that it is best not to try. Write simply, clearly and without adjectives and adverbs. E-mail is best for conveying information and not feelings.