Social Media & Email Expected Response Time

Social media is great.  It is helped out people in so many ways from closing the deal to staying in touch with family members 100′s of miles away.  We are able to get information instantly in this day of age, but because we are able to see information so quickly our expectations for response has become a little out-of-whack.

The phone call comes in and the response from the other end, “Did you get my email?”  Yes I did get your email but it’s only been an hour.  When did the expectation for lightning fast response time to emails become the expectation?

I think the use of social media tools has raised the need for shortening the reply time.  Email was used to shorten the delivery time as opposed to snail mail.  Plus it was free, except for internet costs and fun.  But because of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instant Messengers and their “now” attitude, emailing has somewhat got sucked into that category.  That forced me to think, what are the expectations of the other avenues of messaging? Reasons;  1.) To settle some people down 2.) to settle myself down because it’s easy to fall into the trap.

Let me know if I missed any avenues that’s worth while and don’t forget to vote your opinion to help set the standards.

Responding to Emails

Remember when email was so cool.  The day before spam.  Its hard to believe there was a day without spam.  Emails, in my opinion has now been a little less reliable to send a message.  Spammers are becoming more sophisticated to break through those spam filter barriers. Thus making spam filters stronger which will now falsely label a normal email as spam more often.  Really annoying. Add in the mindset of instant news, notifications and responses that we are becoming accustom to. You’re torn between; “I need a response now” and “did it go to their spam folder?”  So when do you email or call and ask if they received your email.  When should you expect a response?

Recommendation: 24-48 hours expected response.  Emailing was always viewed by me as a replacement of snail mail.  So really emailing takes away the snail mail delivery time.  If someone sent me a snail mail, I would take a day or two to respond and mail back.  But prompt responding to any type of message shows that you are on top of your game.

Public Survey:

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Responding to Facebook Wall Posts and Normal Messages

It’s hard to gauge other social media tools and the expectation of the response back.  It depends really on the level of the user you are trying to contact.  Facebook has grown in numbers and wouldn’t be shocking if they actually start integrating email into Facebook to cover that market and keep people on their Facebook profile page.  Until then though, feel out the users level of usage.

Recommendation: Normal users: 12-24 hour expected response. Light users 24-48 hours. The amount of light users are quickly dwindling.  So if you’re on the end of a sent message, be aware of the etiquette. Especially if business is involved.

Public Survey:

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Responding to Twitter Mentions and Direct Messages

You either hate it or love it.  Personally, I use to hate it.  But now I love it.  I use it more than Facebook now.  Again the level of the user should gauge your expectations of a response.  With all the phone and desktop applications out there to download you should be able to expect a rather quick response.  It’s what makes Twitter so useful and desirable.

Recommendation: 0-4 hour expected response.  Some people might disagree with me on this and I look forward to hear what the public has to say.  But personally think that is why Twitter appeals to some and designed for.

Public Survey:

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Responding to LinkedIn Messages

LinkedIn is all about business.  Making connections through others to find people you could possibly do business with in the future.  Promote your business, your job and yourself.  Some reports are showing that LinkedIn is substantially growing in numbers.  Communication is Business 101 or it should be.  So if you receive a message through LinkedIn you should respond rather quickly.  After all, it could be the business deal opportunity you are looking for.

Recommendation: 4-8 hour expected response.  The problem here, though, people are using it less than other social avenues.  If we want to use it for what it was designed to do; building business relationships, we should treat it with more importance.

Public Survey:

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In the end let’s not be pushy, but let’s have some expectations.  Communicating with each other plays a MAJOR role in our day to day lives and business.  Having a prompt response can only do you good.  Even if you know the person on the other end will not like your answer.

Did I miss an important avenue of online communications?  What would you like people to start using?

Tagged as: Business, email, facebook, linkedin, social media, tips, twitter

Article by Joe Porter

Joe has written 30 articles for joeporter.me

I love people, websites, tech & business and everything in between.