Group Messaging Etiquette

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Group Messaging Etiquette

A body of Internet etiquette (Netiquette) has emerged over time. Small things like: not syndicating links to your new blog post 5 times in an hour, being conservative in your usage of caps lock, knowing when to D msg VS @reply on Twitter, or responding to an introduction by BCCing the introducer to spare his/her inbox.

Netiquette is never predefined when a new technology is launched. Instead it emerges over time by consensus from the early adopters, and then spreads through usage.

We are still in the first inning of Group Messaging, and the etiquette best practices with this new technology are still emerging. Some issues:

Knowing what messages are appropriate for a full group VS what should be dropped into a sidebar conversation.
If you are not the group creator, who is appropriate to add to the conversation?
If the other parties are not currently responsive, but your query requires timeliness, what next?

Group Messaging etiquette is particularly sensitive in the case where an unresponsive party’s phone can get hammered with pushes or txts. Here, the service can take pro-active behavior, such as muting or kicking unresponsive individuals. But, is that the correct course of action? I don’t know, but I do know the answer will emerge from a combination of etiquette, experience, and testing.

These lines are not black and white. They will be drawn collectively, and they will vary based on the social context of the group.