In a recent article, Kim pointed out some of the must know shorthand lingo. I am not discounting her. Every form of shorthand she mentioned is surely something that you need to know to keep up with conversations. However, not every instance is one in which shorthanded forms of words or phrases should be used.

Rule of thumb: If you can fit the word into the text message / Tweet (Twitter message) without shortening the word, then use the full form of the word. This basically leaves out using shorthand in any live chat instances.

Why does it matter? You may be thinking that this is just a pet peeve example from a disgruntled frequent communicator. You’re party right – this does annoy the dickens out of me.  But consider this:

Your boss or potential employer sends you an e-mail. I would imagine that you would have enough sense not to reply with “LOL”s”, “WTF” and random misspellings and poor grammar. Think of it a bit further. You get many e-mails in a day. Maybe you just replied to a friend about her awesome weekend down in Texas. Your e-mail was filled with, OMG, WTF, LMAO and “Did u have fun w/ him” references. It would be more than a little easy to forget to whom you were writing to, and let one of these shorthanded phrases slip. To prevent this catastrophic event of losing respect, dependability, and even a job offer, it would be much easier to adjust your common e-mail trends to match those of an intelligent person.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a frequent user of WTF and OMG and I’ll drop an occasional LOL. However, I’ve personally been working a bit harder on substituting those for actual words. It gives the conversation a bit more meaning, and doesn’t seem like you’re being short or “just saying something to say something.”

When I get an “LOL” response from someone I am instant messaging with without some sort of follow-up comment, I almost feel like they’re just speechless without anything further to say  If it’s funny, and you “LOL’d” then say why it was that you found it funny. Did you have similar experience? Did your friend tell a joke that you’ve never heard but are surely going to pass on? Whatever it is, tell them. Keep the line of communication open and try to keep it streaming without any long-term disconnect until one of you has to leave for an extended period of time.

Always comment on something the other person says with an additional comment or question; not just an LOL, HAHA, or OKAY.

It’s very important to keep a steady flow of conversation between yourself and your chat partner. Remember, we discussed how to ask engaging questions. If you sense you’re your chat partner is being short with you, throw out a “What are you up to right now? You super busy?” If they say yes, then simply say you’re rather held up right now as well, and you can catch up when you’re both free.

NEVER EVER ASK if your chat partner is talking to a lot of people. That question basically assumes that you feel they are and your partner may feel attacked for being too slow. You don’t want to make accusations. They very well could just be slower at typing, and this is something that should be given some slack.

Treat instant messages and e-mail communications like actual face-to-face conversations.  Reply back with intriguing responses, comments, and questions. Don’t let the conversation die on your hand. Carry your weight in the conversation, and give it all you’ve got.