Using Chat and Collaborative Platforms

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About this lesson

We'll talk about the differences and how to write for platforms like Slack, Basecamp, and other online collaborative environments.

Quick reference

Using Chat and Collaborative Platforms

Writing on chat and collaborative platforms for business is a unique environment.

When to use

Use this section to identify ways in which chat platforms seem to bend the rules in business writing, and to identify what elements remain the same.

Main Points

  • Standard web abbreviations, lowercase messages, and emojis are freely used with coworkers on chat platforms. Organizational hierarchy is still respected.
  • Clients, customers, and the general public expect messages that are quick, knowledgeable, friendly, and specific to their needs.
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  • 00:02 Using chat platforms are a great way to communicate with
  • 00:07 an individual or an entire team in real time.
  • 00:11 They usually have text, voice and video features.
  • 00:15 Most of them now support features we've gotten used to at work like document
  • 00:20 sharing and calendars, and features we're used to when we're texting or
  • 00:24 using social media like emojis and tagging people.
  • 00:28 This signals that writing etiquette on Slack, Teams, Google Chat and
  • 00:33 Basecamp, is kind of a hybrid between what we've been discussing so far and
  • 00:38 the more informal types of communication that used to be reserved for
  • 00:42 social and casual settings.
  • 00:44 Remember that these types of messages can usually be shared with a wide audience
  • 00:49 easily.
  • 00:49 So, they have a potential to make us look really good, or really bad, very quickly.
  • 00:55 Let's talk about using Chat for internal and external communication.
  • 01:02 When you're using Chat platforms within your organization,
  • 01:05 organizational culture and hierarchy standards matter.
  • 01:09 Just because the CEO of your company is also on Slack,
  • 01:12 doesn't give you unlimited access, if that doesn't also apply to other channels.
  • 01:18 If you're new, observe the culture of the organization first.
  • 01:22 Obviously, avoid anything that violates company policy or
  • 01:25 that would be considered in poor taste, it's still written record.
  • 01:30 Generally speaking,
  • 01:32 it's okay to use all lowercase when chatting with your coworkers.
  • 01:37 Standard web abbreviations like NP, for no problem or
  • 01:40 a THX, for thanks, are also acceptable.
  • 01:45 Virtually all available emojis,
  • 01:47 whatever emotions you'd express in person to a coworker, are okay too.
  • 01:53 Now, let's talk about communicating on chat platforms externally.
  • 01:58 This applies, whether you're using your company's social media accounts and
  • 02:01 interacting with your clients and the general public.
  • 02:05 Or if you have live chat agents for customer support,
  • 02:08 here's what people expect.
  • 02:10 They want to know that there's a human being on the other end.
  • 02:14 This means, a personalized, non-canned response to their questions.
  • 02:19 They expect that the response will be quick, knowledgeable, and accurate.
  • 02:25 They also want the person on the other end to be friendly and have a sense of humor.
  • 02:30 These are some pretty high expectations, but they're not unreasonable.
  • 02:35 Other people are just as busy as you are.
  • 02:38 And they have demands on their time too.
  • 02:41 If they're communicating with your organization on a chat platform,
  • 02:45 it's almost certain that they're multitasking.
  • 02:48 And this is just a tiny piece of a much bigger picture of what they're
  • 02:52 trying to do.
  • 02:53 If you mess up, this takes up more time than they bargained for, and
  • 02:57 it interferes with their other plans, which doesn't leave a great impression.
  • 03:03 So, we'll get into more detail later about how to meet those expectations.

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