LinkedIn Messaging Part II The Dangers of Asynchronous Communication (including email)

LinkedIn Messaging Part II The Dangers of Asynchronous Communication (including email) Yesterday I wrote a post titled Why You Shouldn’t Message Me On LinkedIn. The main argument was LinkedIns lack of auto-reply feature, which means that even if I set up a vacation message in my email, I cant do that in my LinkedIn messaging system (aka, inbox). Note to LinkedIn: if you are going to fix that, please let me also create an email signature! Anyway, in the comments, Lamar asks about sending gmail messages, and getting those bounce back. He argues that his gmail activity is less reliable then sending messages via LinkedIn SO WHAT IS THE RIGHT ANSWER?   Let me clarify that Im not solely talking about technological success (whether the message you sent was actually received in the persons inbox).  Im talking about whether the reader will actually see the message.  Having something sent to the mailbox, but filed in spam or junk, is a failure.  In my opinion, sending something to someones Gmail account and having it not be in the Primary tab is a failure.  I use the Gmail corporate service for my JibberJobber email, and I find that too often my @JibberJobber emails are not received by the recipient, because their email spam filters dont like Gmails DNS servers (and perhaps other things that Gmail is doing).  That is lame and unfortunate Gmail should clean that up. BUT, there are too many factors (like the 3rd party email blacklists, which sometimes are created by some shady guy with no ethics and a chip on his shoulder, working in a poorly lit apartment with energy drinks and empty pizza boxes strewn around his lonely room).  Not hing you can do about that.  Too bad corporations give his input any value In communicating with a human being, though, the real issue comes down to asynchronous communication. Has anyone ever said something like why didnt you do that think I asked you to do?  I texted you! Um, maybe because I didnt get the text?!?! But I texted you! Sounds like a weak argument, doesnt it? When you really need communication to happen, you need to confirm it happened.  Just because you texted someone doesnt mean that (a) their phone registered the text, and (b) they say the text. One definition of asynchronous is not  occurring  at  the  same  time.  That, my friends, is text, email, LinkedIn messaging, etc. In a face-to-face conversation (or phone call, chat, etc.) you have someone who says something, and someone else who can respond immediately.  Even if it is through body language, the response, or the conversation, is occurring at the same time. If you want to know if someone heard you, you can ask did you hear me? If you want to know if someone saw your text/email/message, you could ask them.  Or you could wait for them to respond.  But you cant assume that any asynchronous communication is going to be received and read (much less responded to) immediately. Check out this quote, in an article talking about asynchronous communication: Sometimes people have to wait hours, days, and even weeks to get a response to a message or feedback It really doesnt matter what method of asynchronous communication you use, there will always be the element of a gamble (did the user get the message??). In yesterdays post, I recommended you not send me a message through LinkedIn, if you really want to get a response from me (or have me see your message).  But really, any other method, except face-to-face, will have similar risks.  I just find that my email is much more reliable than the LinkedIn messaging system, and how my email system interacts with it. Which gamble are you going to take? And how can you ensure your communications are being received and responded to? LinkedIn Messaging Part II The Dangers of Asynchronous Communication (including email) Yesterday I wrote a post titled Why You Shouldn’t Message Me On LinkedIn. The main argument was LinkedIns lack of auto-reply feature, which means that even if I set up a vacation message in my email, I cant do that in my LinkedIn messaging system (aka, inbox). Note to LinkedIn: if you are going to fix that, please let me also create an email signature! Anyway, in the comments, Lamar asks about sending gmail messages, and getting those bounce back. He argues that his gmail activity is less reliable then sending messages via LinkedIn SO WHAT IS THE RIGHT ANSWER?   Let me clarify that Im not solely talking about technological success (whether the message you sent was actually received in the persons inbox).  Im talking about whether the reader will actually see the message.  Having something sent to the mailbox, but filed in spam or junk, is a failure.  In my opinion, sending something to someones Gmail account and having it not be in the Primary tab is a failure.  I use the Gmail corporate service for my JibberJobber email, and I find that too often my @JibberJobber emails are not received by the recipient, because their email spam filters dont like Gmails DNS servers (and perhaps other things that Gmail is doing).  That is lame and unfortunate Gmail should clean that up. BUT, there are too many factors (like the 3rd party email blacklists, which sometimes are created by some shady guy with no ethics and a chip on his shoulder, working in a poorly lit apartment with energy drinks and empty pizza boxes strewn around his lonely room).  Not hing you can do about that.  Too bad corporations give his input any value In communicating with a human being, though, the real issue comes down to asynchronous communication. Has anyone ever said something like why didnt you do that think I asked you to do?  I texted you! Um, maybe because I didnt get the text?!?! But I texted you! Sounds like a weak argument, doesnt it? When you really need communication to happen, you need to confirm it happened.  Just because you texted someone doesnt mean that (a) their phone registered the text, and (b) they say the text. One definition of asynchronous is not  occurring  at  the  same  time.  That, my friends, is text, email, LinkedIn messaging, etc. In a face-to-face conversation (or phone call, chat, etc.) you have someone who says something, and someone else who can respond immediately.  Even if it is through body language, the response, or the conversation, is occurring at the same time. If you want to know if someone heard you, you can ask did you hear me? If you want to know if someone saw your text/email/message, you could ask them.  Or you could wait for them to respond.  But you cant assume that any asynchronous communication is going to be received and read (much less responded to) immediately. Check out this quote, in an article talking about asynchronous communication: Sometimes people have to wait hours, days, and even weeks to get a response to a message or feedback It really doesnt matter what method of asynchronous communication you use, there will always be the element of a gamble (did the user get the message??). In yesterdays post, I recommended you not send me a message through LinkedIn, if you really want to get a response from me (or have me see your message).  But really, any other method, except face-to-face, will have similar risks.  I just find that my email is much more reliable than the LinkedIn messaging system, and how my email system interacts with it. Which gamble are you going to take? And how can you ensure your communications are being received and responded to? LinkedIn Messaging Part II The Dangers of Asynchronous Communication (including email) Yesterday I wrote a post titled Why You Shouldn’t Message Me On LinkedIn. The main argument was LinkedIns lack of auto-reply feature, which means that even if I set up a vacation message in my email, I cant do that in my LinkedIn messaging system (aka, inbox). Note to LinkedIn: if you are going to fix that, please let me also create an email signature! Anyway, in the comments, Lamar asks about sending gmail messages, and getting those bounce back. He argues that his gmail activity is less reliable then sending messages via LinkedIn SO WHAT IS THE RIGHT ANSWER?   Let me clarify that Im not solely talking about technological success (whether the message you sent was actually received in the persons inbox).  Im talking about whether the reader will actually see the message.  Having something sent to the mailbox, but filed in spam or junk, is a failure.  In my opinion, sending something to someones Gmail account and having it not be in the Primary tab is a failure.  I use the Gmail corporate service for my JibberJobber email, and I find that too often my @JibberJobber emails are not received by the recipient, because their email spam filters dont like Gmails DNS servers (and perhaps other things that Gmail is doing).  That is lame and unfortunate Gmail should clean that up. BUT, there are too many factors (like the 3rd party email blacklists, which sometimes are created by some shady guy with no ethics and a chip on his shoulder, working in a poorly lit apartment with energy drinks and empty pizza boxes strewn around his lonely room).  Not hing you can do about that.  Too bad corporations give his input any value In communicating with a human being, though, the real issue comes down to asynchronous communication. Has anyone ever said something like why didnt you do that think I asked you to do?  I texted you! Um, maybe because I didnt get the text?!?! But I texted you! Sounds like a weak argument, doesnt it? When you really need communication to happen, you need to confirm it happened.  Just because you texted someone doesnt mean that (a) their phone registered the text, and (b) they say the text. One definition of asynchronous is not  occurring  at  the  same  time.  That, my friends, is text, email, LinkedIn messaging, etc. In a face-to-face conversation (or phone call, chat, etc.) you have someone who says something, and someone else who can respond immediately.  Even if it is through body language, the response, or the conversation, is occurring at the same time. If you want to know if someone heard you, you can ask did you hear me? If you want to know if someone saw your text/email/message, you could ask them.  Or you could wait for them to respond.  But you cant assume that any asynchronous communication is going to be received and read (much less responded to) immediately. Check out this quote, in an article talking about asynchronous communication: Sometimes people have to wait hours, days, and even weeks to get a response to a message or feedback It really doesnt matter what method of asynchronous communication you use, there will always be the element of a gamble (did the user get the message??). In yesterdays post, I recommended you not send me a message through LinkedIn, if you really want to get a response from me (or have me see your message).  But really, any other method, except face-to-face, will have similar risks.  I just find that my email is much more reliable than the LinkedIn messaging system, and how my email system interacts with it. Which gamble are you going to take? And how can you ensure your communications are being received and responded to?