A few blog posts ago I wrote about the importance of having a Web site that represents your company in the best light. This time around let’s address the importance of your personal electronic image.
What was your first impression when you read the lead on this blog? If it was negative, give some thought to what other people’s impression of you is when you “write” like that on your Facebook page or in an email. (Hint – no one really cares that you are going to bed early, but I bet they’re all talking about the fact you can’t write.)
Maybe it was the writing skills impressed upon me in my 12 years of Catholic school, or the fact I was a journalism major, but I believe the art of writing has been lost when we turned electronic. In all our rushing we have forgotten the importance of grammar and spelling. Heck, we’ve forgotten it’s important to capitalize a sentence and to include correct punctuation.
I would love to blame this on Millenials and Gen Yers, since they grew up in the age of texting where everything is abbreviated, but I’ve watched people of all ages do this. I wish I had a dollar for every “quiz” on Facebook has incorrect spelling or missing words. What happened to editing before publishing?
We’ve all had days when we need to get an email out quickly and didn’t read what we wrote before hitting send. Always assume that email will get forwarded to someone. Always assume it. That rule should give you pause before you hit the send button. Do you want your boss’s boss to know you can’t spell – or worse yet, can’t write?
When you ignore basic writing skills, you’re giving people a negative impression of you. You’re allowing people to think you aren’t very intelligent at worse or you’re lazy at best. I realize you may be in a hurry when you post a status update on Facebook or when you compose an email. But take the time to use correct grammar and spelling. It’s a reflection on you people will remember and one that lives on forever in cyber space. And you never know who is watching…
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