Should you send your friend an email, message or a card?

Last week I talked about slowing down and writing a longer letter. This week I want to focus a bit on digital communication. Luckily for us there are so many ways to communicate this day in age. The downside is that there is real competition for our attention.

Everything really comes back to the fact that as humans we crave connection. We want meaningful relationships and social media is trying every which way it knows how to give us ways to forge real relationships using digital methods. And with these companies competing for our eyeballs and attention, the relationships we are trying to build can get fractured.

We are sharing things to a larger group of people as opposed to one-on-one. And THAT is the true key to building meaningful friendships.

ONE-ON-ONE.

I am going to rate one-on-one communication in order of effectiveness:

1. In Person.
2. Written mail.
3. Direct messaging and email.
4. Everything else.

Snail mail, email, and social media can live together perfectly in any friendship. They do not have to be mutually exclusive, you just need to decide which medium makes the most sense for sharing your message.

PRO TIP: Things to consider: time sensitivity, and Joy Factor.

Snail Mail: This is tops for the Joy Factor.

• Sharing moments and memories to bring a smile or brighten a day
• Important milestones and announcements
• Fancy Invitations
• Cards for Birthdays, Holidays, and just because
• When you want to make an impact
• To say thank you
• Creating a tangible history of friendship

Email: Wins for time sensitivity and organization.

I love email. I love how fast it is and how I can just add as many names as I want and send the one message at the same time. It can be an incredible time saver to help you get things done, and also to create a written organized history of information in case you need to go back and double check info later on. Plus SEARCHABLE!

• I send these when I have a lot to say and need a quick response
• When sending links or referencing things that I want my friends to check out
• When I want to send something to multiple friends at the same time and create a searchable thread
• For work and business relationships

Social Media: Time sensitive but not permanent, some joy but fleeting. Superficial and not very organized.

• Quick short messages
• Ongoing Conversations
• Random in the moment happenings
• Mostly public so information can sometimes be filtered
• Sharing photos and process

This list is something I will continue to update so I would love to hear from you about what you like to use for what. When we share our collective knowledge we will help everyone; not only in giving new ideas for different communications, but also to help us strengthen our friendship bonds.

This week I am sending a letter to a childhood friend, who will you write to?

KIT,

 

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