Tag and Ping - Tag and Link
What's in a name? Everything.
It is vital to use the right words and phrases when communicating written or audio information, for the sake of clarity. And so we have our special guest this month: The Oxford English Dictionary.
The venerable book publisher has published a blog post on their website entitled "What are tags and pings?". It goes on to explain that "In the world of information technology, 'tagging' refers to assigning keywords or labels to communication content". And "Ping is an instant messaging term meaning a message sent from one computer user to another via email or text-based Internet communication systems. It is also used in discussion forums and newsgroups."
I usually don't mind when the OED lays down the rules of usage, because it generally has good advice. However, in this case I would like to point out that "ping" is not a word for describing how to describe information in its messages. Yes, it's another variation of "tag". "Tagging" is a noun (or adjective) and we use it with things like pets or cars - you know, nouns. And the verb form? It's simply the action of tagging something with a label. So pinging for tagging? No...just no.
The OED link is a good example of just how wrong this term is, because you don't ping someone, you tag them. So in your next email to a potential customer, remember that "ping" and "tag" are two different things:
"I would like to ping you on the subject of sales." = wrong. Say it instead: "I would like to tag you on the subject of sales."
"I want to ping your business and let them know about my product." = wrong. Say it instead: "I want to tag your business and let them know about my product."
We are already interconnected. We are already linked. We are already communicating. We already tag things on the internet. "ping" and "tag" alienate us from a part of our world, when we should be embracing it.
So if you're going to use this one, please use it as a verb: "I want to ping (something). I want to tag (something)."
That's better.
Tag and Ping - Tag and Link
I received this information from Sue Morris who runs the website Academic Editing UK . She makes editing services available to all students and academics, who struggle with their writing skills. She also offers help with essay writing, proofreading and cover letters, among other things. You can find her website at: academic-editing.co.uk/ And thanks to her for her excellent editorial work on this blogpost.
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Note: The following people provided feedback on the content of this blogpost, which improved it substantially: bretts , SarahLee , and Carol . Thanks so much for your insights! The content here has been revised accordingly.
Thanks to Carol for catching that "another" should be "any". I cannot stress how helpful it is to get feedback from an editor who catches grammar and spelling errors, as well as clarity issues. This is the first in a series of blogposts by yours truly and I've learned a lot. Now, let's go back to the top of the page; what was the title again? Oh yes...
It's My Party and I'll Link If I Want To! (Or: How To Not Alienate Readers)
"Like any other message, your link needs to grab your reader's attention if it has a chance of being opened. The email Subject Line doesn't count, because that's what you're already working on. But the body of your message is important and it matters. It has to contain enough information to keep a reader's attention."
So said Tim Bray in his blog post, "How To Write A Better Email Subject Line". This post is a tutorial on how to write an email subject line; something that I think most people (myself included) tend to rush right past when they're writing emails, or when they're getting ready to send out an email. Yet while it's true that the subject line doesn't count towards the opening of your email, it certainly counts towards its reading. This is the email equivalent of a title for a blogpost or an article; you want it to have enough flair so that the reader (or listener) will take notice of it. You want them to click on it, if only out of curiosity.
And if your subject line is bland and uninformative - well, then you've lost them rather quickly. And no, I don't mean "lose", as in "to misplace" or "to forget". No, I mean losing their attention altogether by putting off your readers too much.
I should first clarify something, though. The subject line is not entirely an indicator of the content of the email. For example, if your email is being sent to a group of people who are aware that the subject line refers to a particularly important topic and the content of the email will reflect this, then you can get away with a rather bland and forgettable subject line. So, for example, say one of your guinea pigs come down with something strange and it appears that he is slowly dying from whatever it might be. You've collected some blood and tissue samples back at base camp and you want to get them to an epidemiologist with as little delay as possible.
Conclusion: Email subject lines are important. If they're too bland and uninformative, then they'll get passed over. On the other hand, if they're too strange or too interesting, then they might get unwanted attention.
Solution: A subject line needs to be informative enough to catch the readers' attention but not so informative that it provides everything that they need to know about what's in the email. It needs to be a tease of sorts; an invitation for them to see what else is going on in the email without giving away too much information.
"In order to write great emails that your customers will actually read, start by thinking about how you would respond if you received these emails yourself.