Courtesy Still Counts

I recently read an excellent post by Peter Bregman over at the Harvard Business Review about the message silence sends. While I enjoyed Bregman’s post, I think I enjoyed the comments even more. One comment in particular, made by Andrew Martin, resonated with me: “Learning to deal with what appears to be a lack of courtesy is one of the greatest challenges posed by today’s world of communication and information overload…”

I confess to being a little bit of an etiquette nerd. I do own and love a copy of Emily Post’s “Etiquette.” But I also freely admit that these so valuable common courtesies are often the first things to go when I’m in a rush. Those lapses are short-sighted, because these courtesies — so easily overlooked — are even more powerful for their rarity.

Sadly, this forgetfulness has followed us into the social-media sphere. Tweeting a “thanks for the retweet!” or “thanks for the mention!” should be simplicity itself. But, again, these courtesies are often overlooked. Online, this frequent oversight turns courtesies into a potent tool, where these simple sentiments have the potential to reach a much wider audience than a traditional thank-you.