Make a Good First Impression With Instant Message
First impressions are critical. Whether it’s face-to-face, through your blog design or via instant message, you always want to put your best foot forward.
With so many people connecting online on a daily basis, it’s more than likely that your first communication with someone is through instant messaging rather than email, phone or face-to-face. That’s just how prevalent and accepted instant messaging is today as a form of communication.
And there’s no shortage of technology choices either. I use a handful of options including Skype, MSN, Gtalk, AIM and ICQ.
By its very nature, instant messaging is a very informal means of communication. With email, people have the opportunity to think about what they’re writing, save drafts for another time and respond at a slower pace. On the phone, people are typically very professional but also very comfortable since we’ve all used the phone for many years. Instant messaging changes a lot of the rules of communication because it’s:
- Informal feeling and casual
- Designed for very fast communication
- Unstructured and messy
- Increasing people’s availability and demands on their time
And now instant messaging is evolving into “broadcast instant messaging” through tools like Twitter which in some ways exacerbate the chaos created by instant messaging.
Given its nature, it might be easy to ignore the impression you leave through instant messaging. But that would be a big mistake.
Through every bit of communication - whether it’s a well-thought out email, phone conversation, meeting or instant message chat - you’re forming an impression and being given the opportunity to sell and promote yourself.
People forget that when it comes to instant message.
Recently I had two separate conversations via instant message that left me unimpressed. The people were flippant, slow to respond, and too casual in their style of writing. “Hey d00d” isn’t how I want to be addressed when we first connect online to talk about business.
It’s important to remember that the rules of communication still apply when connecting via instant message:
- Be respectful
- Show interest
- Don’t ignore people
- Don’t communicate like a 16-year old teenager talking to her girlfriends
- Treat conversations seriously and professionally
- Get a feel for how the other person wants to communicate and work towards that
Instant messaging is a great tool for communication. I use it constantly. But when you start reaching out to people - making those first contacts and having those first critical conversations - be smart about it. Remember: you’re making a first impression that will stick with people for a very long time, even if it’s just through a little chat box.
I love IM, but I am guilty of leaving boxes in the background and ignoring them until the other person gets annoyed and sends me a nudge. The thing is to remember that IM is like any other conversation; you’ve got to stay engaged or the other person will sense your disinterest and bail out.
I chat online with my 16 year old sister. It’s cringeworthy sometimes.
Very good point. Whether it’s email or IM, I think there is a tendency to underestimate the importance of impressions. More than once I’ve sent a hasty email or IM that wasn’t as well thought out as it should have been. This is the problem with digital communications, it’s so easy to do, we forget to take our time.
well if this is true then i need to start turning my IMs on more often because right now i do not get on them unless someone asks me to through some other form of communication
Jeez - I use emails to try and meet people in person. Your blog has made me realise I’m way, way behind the times. IM for me is just friends and family!
Nice post on an often overlooked topic. I.M. has clearly established itself as a critical part of the “Holy Trinity of Communication: Phone, Email, and Instant Message.” Despite the wide spread use of I.M. everyone needs to know when to stop I.Ming and when to pick up the phone or send an email. If your opening I.M. statement to someone becomes several sentences long, you should think about moving to email. If your I.M. chat conversation becomes a non-stop back and forth exchange lasting several minutes, you should consider picking up the phone (if possible). Obviously if these chats are between you and a friend, then disregard what I’m proposing. If the chat is with a business associate, then what I said applies.
I love IM, IM can be extended more and more, not only like twitter,or mash up google earth+Skype, but also IM+RSS, like anothr.com and others.
Yes, it’s important to give great first impressions in IM with someone else since you can’t be as expressive as in a phone or face to face. I also make sure that i notify the person before leaving the keyboard.
yep,
you are a pretty good skyper, I enjoy skyping with you.
Lior
When considering first impressions, I think it’s more formal to talk to someone for the first time through email rather than IM, that’s just my thought. Anyway, I consider it important to build up great first impressions with the people I meet.
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[…] Yoskovitz presents Make a Good First Impression With Instant Message posted at Instigator Blog, saying, “Instant Message is so prevalent for online entrepreneurs […]
[…] Yoskovitz presents Make a Good First Impression With Instant Message posted at Instigator Blog, saying, “Instant Message is so prevalent for online entrepreneurs […]