The other day I took the train to Stockholm and for once I had actually requested to be put in the quiet section of a traincar in order to be able to sleep (it was a very early morning trip). The meaning of those sections are that there should be no mobile phone calls and only low voices.
Shortly after leaving the platform the passanger next to me got a phonecall which she answered and talked for a while with a rather loud voice. I decided to ignore it at the time as it was the start of the journey (at least for me, some of the passanger had been travelling for an hour already). But I said to myself that she should listen to the podcast “Modern Manners Guy”.
About halfway into my trip she gets another call and answers it. I politely turn to her and whisper (as many of the passangers are sleeping) that it would be great if she could take the call outside as it is a quiet section of the train. She tells the person calling, without lowering her voice, that she can’t talk and hangs up.
Hmmm…
Showing respect for your peers is something that does not just apply to our face to face interactions. It is just as important when dealing with people online.
Linda Evans, from Search Engine Watch, described it so well in her post yeasterday “In Social Media, Come Bearing Gifts“.
She compares pushing your message online without listening to your audience to ignoring the custom in many countries that you should bring a gift to the host/hostess when invited to a party.
“Basically, you’re no better than a party crasher. You know those annoying people who just show up uninvited and expect to get free beer, free food, and hook up with friends?”
Take the time to engage with your audience, learn what they like and offer them something in return. We are all social creatures but will exclude anyone who does not pay us enough respect. Just because we don’t see each other in the flesh when communicating via the web does not change anything in that respect.
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