July 5, 2007

Negatives and Benefits of Email

Email is indeed a wonderful tool, but the problem is that we get so much information via email its time consuming to separate the different levels of email. I have about 3 - 4 different levels.

Level one email is from business friends - people close to me who's email, at all times is important. This includes "business" email on important business matters.

Level two email is email related to business that is not critically important, such as press releases, newsletters and other things. These emails I must received to keep track of my industry.

What I've started doing is unsubscribing from all email newsletters and when available subscribing via an RSS feed.

Om Malik writes E-mail ought to be reinvented to meet the needs of our always-connected lives. Startups like Xobni are trying to make e-mail inboxes easier to handle, but they just don't go far enough. What they're doing is akin to giving a New York tenement building a makeover by putting on a new facade but not getting rid of the termites and roaches.

Email is a very important tool, but if you don't get control of your email box, you'll become a slave to it, instead of IT using it as a tool for your business.

The next time yous end email, make sure that you keep others in mind in how they receive your email. Is the subject clear? Have you taken the time to write something short and sweet, when possible?

I think RSS feeds are one of the best tools a company can use to push routine information to employees. Especially information that everyone might not need. By starting "channels" of information - pension, HR, new hires and etc - everyone can subscribe to what information they want and NOT receive information they don't want.

0 comments