Seven Dos and Don’ts for Digital Communication

More than ever before, people rely on digital communication, such as email, instant messaging (IM), and texting to stay connected and get things done. And our evolving online behavior reveals a lot about our habits and values. A new survey conducted by Yahoo Mail shows the average adult is highly invested in email, regularly using three email accounts — two for personal use, and one for work use. The Yahoo survey also finds a growing number of adults are “hooked” to their email, with two in three adults checking their email as soon as they wake up, up from only 41 percent last year.

The new survey, which polled over 2,000 people in the United States, asked in-depth questions about email accounts and acceptable email behaviors. This slideshow highlights seven acceptable/unacceptable digital communications behaviors identified by the survey.

Click through for seven dos and don'ts for digital communication, as identified by Yahoo Mail.

Seventy-seven percent of those polled felt it was acceptable to use email to share life celebration news.

Sending “thank you” cards/notes for gifts via email was deemed acceptable by 70 percent of participants.

Fifty-six percent of adults think four or more people is too many to copy on a personal email.

Most adults (86 percent) think no more than a week should pass before responding to a personal email, with over half of those feeling it should be no longer than a day.

Only 41 percent of participants felt that it was appropriate to BCC invitees on an email party invitation.

Most adults (90 percent) think it’s unacceptable to end a relationship via email, IM and/or text message.

Only nine percent condone reading someone else’s email without them knowing about it. Even fewer (eight percent) felt it was appropriate to read a colleague’s email or IM without them knowing.