Email Has Purpose

I use e-mail every day and its purpose changes depending on whom I am e-mailing. In my personal life, if I am e-mailing my family, it is usually to make plans to do something or just simple chitchat. For example, every year around the Holidays, my mom and sisters and I get together for a weekend and bake and exchange cookies for Christmas. We always use e-mail to coordinate the dates and figure out who is making what kinds of cookies. I also use e-mail to share information. My mom and I share an interest in gardening and we often e-mail back and forth and give each other suggestions and gardening tips. Other times, my family and I will just e-mail back and forth for no other reason other than to say “hi, how’s your day going?” or “what are you up to?” E-mails in my personal life are very casual but when I am at work, e-mail is used for communicating with customers and clients and has a completely different purpose.

I work as a real estate closer for a title company and I use e-mail continuously. For example, I work with a lot of real estate agents and I need to e-mail them to ask questions regarding purchase agreements or commission amounts and to schedule closings. I also give them information as to the status of the files that I am working on. When communicating with loan officers I will e-mail them questions about closing costs and the status of loan approvals and loan documents.

When considering my audience, especially at work, I have to be very careful about the tone of my e-mail. For example, I cannot use exclamation points or type anything in all capital letters because it sends a different tone and the recipient may think that I am angry or being rude. I must always be professional and read my e-mail carefully before I send it to be sure that it has the appropriate tone and manner.

I do not think that instant messaging hinders my writing because I don’t use it that much. The only person that ever sends me text or instant messages is my daughter. I usually do not text her back because I can’t stand doing it. It's easier for me to just pick up the phone and call her. I can usually tell the people who do a lot of instant messaging because I can see it in their writing style. For example, people will not capitalize the letter “i” when referring to their self in the first person. Another example is when people will type a “u” for the word you. That is acceptable when using text and instant messaging, but I do not feel that it is appropriate in e-mails. It doesn’t take that much extra time to capitalize a letter or spell a word out entirely.