About IM’ing and Etiquette
So what’s the accepted etiquette for IM’ing? I’m still learning and I guess it depends on whether you’re talking to friends, co-workers or whoever. Of course, the usual politeness applies, as it would for talking on the phone or in person. Depending on how well you know your friends, sometimes anything goes.
Here’s some of the things I’ve learned:
- If you IM someone and they don’t get right back to you, you don’t really know the reason. I’ve assumed that they are busy, chatting with someone else or just plain don’t want to chat with me. As for the latter choice, I’m shocked that it would ever be the case! Since I’ve wrongly assumed the reasons before, I now just try to be patient and wait and there’s usually a logical reason.
- I use Pidgin (formerly GAIM) and it cracks me up when I see other people in my list that are online with the status of being “Invisible”. But I can see you! Why bother logging on in the first place? Are you a voyeur? Maybe someone can explain that to me.
- Sometimes I feel silly using those cutesy little emoticons. It does help get your emotions across, but I do wonder if I overuse them sometimes or look silly. Not that I need to use them everyday. I do have some willpower, for God’s sake.
- It is NOT a good idea to have clients on your Buddy List. Won’t say anymore on that one.
- I don’t know all those word abbreviations, so I mostly type, type, type everything out. I know, that’s pretty parked, but I’m getting better. Like I know the basic ones - cya, ttyl, bfn - all good-byes, so ttyl.
