Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3 Part 1: Etiquette Guidelines 5 Chapter 1: Defining Etiquette in the Digital Age 7 Coming Up with Some Definitions 8 Netiquette 8 Etiquette versus online ethics 8 Seeing Which Situations Call for Etiquette 9 Social: Chatting with others 10 Meeting: Behaving appropriately in a small group setting 12 Corporate: Behaving professionally in the workplace 14 Business: Conducting yourself properly among colleagues 17 Eating: Shielding meeting participants from your eating habits 19 Telephone: Paying attention to the conversation and your behavior 20 Chapter 2: The Legal Ins and Outs of Etiquette 23 Laying Down the (Communication) Law 24 Looking at federal laws 24 Parsing the state laws 25 Setting Company Policies 29 Specifying your terms of service 29 Banning spam from your company toolset 31 Conducting your business online 34 Looking at specific industry regulations 35 Adhering to country and regional laws 37 Honoring Boundaries 41 Communicating with people during work hours 42 Communicating with employees in general 44 Communicating during off-hours 47 Centralizing Messages 48 Choosing the Best Medium for the Message 48 Identifying the message 49 Understanding your culture 49 Picking a delivery method 49 Chapter 3: Minding Your Online Manners at Any Age 51 Seeing How Etiquette Varies for Different Audiences 52 Adults: Being up front about behavior and modelling that behavior 52 Students: Interacting with classmates and being serious 54 Teachers: Presenting information to students 56 Kids: Being flexible for kid behavior 58 Common Rules for Everyone 59 Dress appropriately 60 Eliminate background noise, if possible 60 Be respectful 61 Part 2: Social Media Etiquette 63 Chapter 4: Learning the Language of Social Media 65 Defining Social Media Etiquette 66 Why you should care about social media etiquette 66 Recognizing bad social etiquette 67 Being mindful of your audience 67 Managing your online presence for different purposes 68 Posting publicly versus privately 69 Knowing the Culture of Each Platform Before You Become Involved 70 Understanding the etiquette of each platform 71 Applying etiquette to the specific social media platforms 73 Chapter 5: Sharing Your Thoughts in Posts and Comments 81 Looking at Followers versus Friends 82 Differentiating between social media as an individual concern and as a business 83 To friend or not to friend 83 Knowing when to unfriend, unfollow, or block 84 Posting as an Individual 85 Knowing when you''re posting versus commenting 85 Determining who can see your posts and your comments 86 Knowing when to post on social media (and when to keep mum) 87 Commenting on someone else''s posts 88 Recognizing the importance of tone 89 Creating meaningful discussions 90 Reserving judgment 91 Avoiding certain topics 91 Respecting the person''s page you''re commenting on 92 Giving credit when credit is due 92 Posting as a Business 93 Verifying content ownership 93 Promoting your business in a spam-free fashion 94 Refraining from posting if it doesn''t align with your company''s values 95 Being genuine as a company as well as a person 95 Going the extra mile 95 Chapter 6: Handling Negative Comments and Reviews 101 Understanding How Comments and Reviews Differ from each other 101 Defining negative comments and negative reviews 102 Recognizing the difference between comments and reviews 102 Reading between the lines: Tone versus intention 103 Don''t become defensive when responding to criticism 104 Dealing with negative comments 105 Knowing when to delete comments 106 Knowing when to ignore comments 107 Letting your audience do the talking 107 Knowing when to respond 108 Responding to Negative Reviews 109 Developing a response strategy 109 Avoiding a bad review in the first place 112 Handling Positive Reviews 113 Chapter 7: Going Viral: The Good, the Bad, and the Unintended 115 The Consequences of Going Viral 115 Enjoying the good consequences 116 Tolerating the bad consequences of going viral 116 Managing the unintended consequences 117 Staying Sane When The Situation Goes Off the Rails 118 Knowing your options 118 Planning your actions 120 Having a Plan in Place 121 Responding to positive feedback 122 Avoiding plagiarism 122 Managing a crisis 124 Knowing whom to trust to help out 127 Chapter 8: Group Decorum 129 What Exactly Is a Social Media Group? 129 Recognizing the importance of online groups 130 Categorizing online groups and communities 131 Being Respectful (and Respected) 132 Group posting etiquette 133 Commenting etiquette 134 The rules of the group 134 Avoiding Common Mistakes in Social Media Groups 135 Posting at the wrong times or to the wrong groups 135 Making false claims about yourself or others 135 Trolling and harassing in social media groups 136 Spamming 136 Being a Good Moderator 137 Assuming the role of the moderator 137 Growing your group 138 Setting expectations and rules 139 Handling issues in your group 139 Chapter 9: Being Likeable During Livestreaming 143 What''s a Livestream, Anyway? 144 Going Live 145 What you need to know before going live 145 What you need to know while you''re live 146 What you need to know after you''ve been live 147 Being a Gracious Host During a Livestream Interview 148 Set up your guests for success 149 Respect your guest''s time 149 Make the visit worthwhile for your guest 150 Following the Guidelines for Being a Great Guest 151 Show up on time 152 Be prepared 152 Avoid the takeover 153 Avoiding Embarrassment 153 Adhering to the Etiquette of Watching a Livestream 154 Respect the broadcaster 154 Respect the other audience members 155 Benefiting from actively participating 156 Part 3: Email Courtesies 157 Chapter 10: Email Best Practices That Won''t Let You Down 159 Emailing for Personal Use versus Emailing for Business Purposes 159 Keeping things personal 161 Emailing for business 162 Writing with a Clear Purpose 163 Picking the right communication tool 163 Context is everything 165 Chapter 11: Spam, the Law, and You 169 Reckoning with CAN-SPAM 170 Looking at Platform-Specific Terms of Service (ToS) 172 Establishing Business Policies 173 Drawing up an acceptable-use policy 173 Creating effective social media policies 173 Managing Your Public Relations 175 Devising a crisis plan 175 Owning up 176 Watching your communication 177 Following Industry Regulations 178 HIPAA and privacy 178 HIPAA and your employees 179 More Social Media Regulations to Know 180 California''s Consumer Privacy Act 181 GDPR: Data protection and privacy in Europe 182 Canada''s CAN-SPAM laws 185 Part 4: Virtual Meeting Manners 187 Chapter 12: The Basics of Virtual Meetings 189 Charting the Rise of Virtual Meetings 189 Choosing When to Use Virtual Meetings 191 Evaluating the benefits of virtual meetings 191 Determining the true purpose of virtual meetings 193 Designing More Productive Virtual Meetings 194 Choosing the right format for your virtual meeting 196 Taking advantage of technology 197 Looking at the Downside of Virtual Meetings 198 Avoiding Virtual Meeting Burnout 199 Chapter 13: Leading a Virtual Meeting 201 Doing the Prep Work 201 Answering the why, where, and when of leading virtual meetings 202 Knowing who needs to be there 204 Defining meeting expectations so that attendees know what to expect 205 Creating an agenda that works 207 Conducting the Meeting 208 Creating connections 209 Moderating the meeting 211 Wrapping up the meeting 212 Handling the Meeting Follow-Up 213 Chapter 14: Making an Appearance at a Virtual Meeting 215 Attending a Virtual Meeting 215 Knowing the company culture 216 Being prepared for different types of presenters 217 Participating in a virtual meeting (via phone, video, and chat) 218 Being prepared 221 Being on time 222 Understanding the purpose 222 Knowing the technology 223 Conducting Yourself in a Virtual Meeting 223 Presenting yourself 224 Knowing when to mute your audio 225 Knowing when to turn off your camera 225 Handling sidebar conversations 226 Sticking to the agenda 227 Respecting the time 227 Not taking over the conversation/meeting. 228 Chapter 15: Webinar and Online Event Proprieties 229