Ten email do's and don'ts

I read the other day that email is fast becoming a thing of the past, we are now using social media to communicate, fast and brief messages about our life, work and dreams. It seems hard to believe that email is going the way of snail mail...or is there a place for both? The following tips are for business communications.

1. Formal communications require formal format...use letterhead and write a business letter.  You may chose to send it by "snail mail" or attach to an email. 
2. If you are sending important communications as attachments to emails, ask for a read receipt.
3. Don't assume that all emails find their destination. While some will bounce back to you, other can vanish into servers that don't forward them on or back.  
4. Legal documents should be dealt with in a paper based mode, print and mail. 
5. Remember that you have no control over who will eventually see your email. Don't write in haste and regret at leisure. 
6. Always be polite, no profanity and avoid abbreviations that some may not understand. 
7. Limit the size of the files you are sending by email. Not everyone has the storage capacity for large video or picture files. 
8. Not everyone has the internet speed to download large files. Limit the information in an email to must have and follow up with faxes or letters. 
9. Respect the reader's time. Don't fill up their in box with several emails when one well written on will do. 
10. Use the subject line to describe what the email is about. Even when replying to an email change the subject line to describe what you are including in your response. 

Email is a fast and convenient means of communicating. It can also be very effective if used correctly.