Open Thread: How do you Prefer to be Contacted?
As the volume of email overwhelms some people and new communication channels arise, it becomes ever more possible for people to customize and personalize their communications to their workload and temperament. But communication involves at least two people, so somehow you have to get the word out about your preferences to those who might contact you.
Web workers can announce their contact preferences online, of course. Jeremiah Owyang has cut out instant messaging in favor of the phone and email even as he ponders whether Facebook might supplant email in certain cases. Steve O’Grady is warning people not to email him while he tries to dig out after vacation. And last week Sean Bonner posted an update on his war on email, describing how he has published a preferred means of contact page that directs people to channels other than email.
Lisa Belkin tackles the issue of personalized communications in the New York Times, noting how difficult it can be to figure out how to contact someone:
Now contact means decoding the quirks of the person in question, the better to predict how to actually get your message through. And if you misread your target, it means the risk of a frosty response, or sometimes deafening silence.
Does he or she hate e-mail, letting it build up in the inbox, but quick to answer the cellphone on the first ring? Does the person refuse to carry a cellphone, but grab the office line through the Bluetooth that is literally attached to one ear? Is it solicitous or stalkerish to send an e-mail message, then leave an office message, then try the cellphone just to be sure?
How do you prefer to be contacted? By phone, email, IM, Facebook, Twitter, other? How do you get the word out?
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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To use facebook you have to register, right? Well anyone who expects me to register with a service that I don’t need or want just to contact them is sadly mistaken. That goes for Twitter too.
Overwhelmed with communication? Try another channel- get a twitter account, use IM, facebook, etc. That doesn’t make any logical sense. Streamline and simplify what you do use instead, and use a little self-discipline.
Thanks for quoting me.
I look for tools that allow me to be efficient:
1) I want to communicate to as many as people that I can (that want to hear me) by looking for tools that can extend my message. I end up using my blog, (where I give away 95% of my knowledge away for free) and other tools like Twitter, and online video.
2) I reduce 1:1 tools when possible. I feel so much more productive now that I’ve gotten rid of IM
3) I pay myself first. Part of leaving a comment here on Web Worker Daily is part of that. Email is a spiral. Public communication ads up.
This post on “Paying yourself first” would be great for the WWD audience
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/07/06/pay-yourself-first-and-one-thing-leads-to-another/
I think you need to give people more than one channel to contact you, which includes at least one channel that isn’t necessarily a walled garden like Facebook — though that is a fine way for someone to contact me, since I am a registered user. A telephone number would qualify here.
But as the person being contacted, I also believing in making my preferences clear. I have voice mail on my mobile phone, but I really hate checking it — and sometimes don’t for days at a time. So on my outgoing message, I let folks know that while they can leave me a voice message, they’re likelier to get a faster reply if they send me an e-mail or text message.
Structured Thoughts/Things that need detailed comment: Email
Unstructured thoughts/Things that need a quick response: Skype IM
Long conversations, mixed work and chat, everything else: Skype voice, or ping me on Skype and call via whatever means
It’s certainly very annoying when you discover that some people just don’t “do” certain modes of communication, like email. If you know you are not going to use or respond to a particular type of communication… just don’t give out that contact detail on your business card, and let people know that they need to call you rather than email you.
As to my preferred mode of communication…it very much depends on the content:
- wiki for project updates
- Google Docs for collaborating on a document
- phone for setting up a meeting time, followed by an email (more sophisticated solutions don’t seem to work with my Mac)
- del.icio.us for recommending articles to read
I would be so happy if all of these items disapeared from my email inbox!
In my professional life I prefer e-mail than personal meetings and phone calls. I don’t want to waste real time. I can respond the mail whenever I am able to.
In my personal life, I prefer personal contact. Definitely. :))
I’m a big fan of e-mail and IM. I hate the phone. E-mail gives me the chance to ask/answer when I can. And with IM, I can always ignore the message or tell the person immediately that now is not a good time.
For me, I think I will prefer the email in the first place as I can control when I have to reply then the cell phone.
Actually the best is by direct contact – but when I’m not so busy ;)
Definitely Email appeals as the first port of call, whereby you can be altered, if you wish, upon its arrival and then look at it in reference to how important you immediately deem it to be, then.. you can take any action at your own chosen time, whether it’s then or later.
IM is always good for emergencies or family or things that require action or knowledge immediately. Other than than IM should not be used for general chit chat, only for what YOU deem important.
Mobile/phone is last, very obtrusive and should be used on your own terms,of course this depends on your business and how important this form of communication is to your consumers / clients / leads etc.
I prefer to be nudged gently in the morning.