Week 1: Clear

Netiquette

Computers are everywhere in today’s world and it is unimaginable to live without them. Moreover, the Internet has become a crucial part of many people’s lives as more than 2 billion people use the internet every month which accounts to approximately 30% of the worldwide population. So the questions arise how people know how to use the internet appropriately and how so many people from different countries and cultural backgrounds know how to interact acceptably with each other?

In order to prevent any arising problems concerning this issue the need to create commonly accepted rules was born already decades ago. To satisfy this need the Netiquette was created in 1983. 

Netiquette is the short form for either “network etiquette” or “Internet etiquette”. The Netiquette rules describe how people should behave in the internet, which tone they should choose, or generally speaking it says that people should interact with each other in a nice manner. Nowadays there are many Netiquette rules being created by different communities. However, the basic rule is mainly the same: You should always remember that there are people on the other end. This implies that you should for instance use a respectful language, an appropriate tone, that you always check that what you say is what you really want to say and that you do not annoy or bother other people with mails or messages they do not want to receive. So all people using the internet should always make sure that they treat people in the same way they want to be treated themselves. If everyone complies with these rules, all people should feel comfortable and nicely treated using the internet.

Furthermore, the Netiquette does not only play a key role in the everyday lives of people communicating via the internet, but these rules do also apply to the world of business as everyone always wants to be treated in a nice and polite manner. So as the business environments become global, the interaction between people becomes more and more important and intense and electronic devices play a key role in today’s business. Hence, every person should know about the Netiquette and behave accordingly.