When you receive a funny text message, do you LOL? Or are those initials more appropriate in a love letter? Is harmless flirting in an e-mail precisely that, or may suggestive banter with colleagues get you into trouble?

In the view of Microsoft, which has teamed up with etiquette experts the Finishing Academy to produce a Top Ten dos and don’ts of electronic messaging, the confusion between Laughing Out Loud and Lots of Love is just one example of the communication foul-ups becoming common in today’s office.

According to Microsoft’s unified communications manager Mark Deakin, the growth of e-mail, Instant Messaging, web conferencing and text — together with the decline in face-to-face meetings and phone calls — has broken all the accepted rules of business etiquette. Yet while we are becoming savvier in terms of applying IT, our appreciation of the subtleties of each technology still lags behind.

Deakin believes that confusion over which method is appropriate for which business task is widespread. “Humour and sarcasm can be misconstrued in e-mails, as can potentially ambiguous abbreviations,” he says, “and both should be reserved for people we know well.

“If we are to avoid becoming robots, good old-fashioned phone use needs to be encouraged so that we can continue to sharpen up our verbal communication skills,” he adds.

Penny Edge, managing director of the Finishing Academy, says that the cardinal rules of remote communication — to be brief and businesslike — are being flouted.

Top Ten Tips

1: Respect other people’s chosen form of communication.

2: Use IM for short requests and immediate responses.

3: Use e-mail sparingly and don’t expect an instant response.

4: Use the telephone for building rapport or discussing delicate matters.

5: Use IM and e-mail settings to show whether you are available or not.

6: Humour, sarcasm and flirting may not be appropriate at work.

7: Be careful when using “emoticons” in a business context.

8: Don’t say anything in an e-mail that you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.

9: Don’t read e-mails or send an SMS if you are with other people. Turn phone to silent mode.

10: Keep records of all-important decisions reached over the phone or IM and print out vital e-mails.

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