At sometime or another, we've all been the victim of the "reply-all" trap. Some of us may have even been guilty of setting the trap in the first place or "piling on" to make things worse.
Next to to SPAM, the "reply-all" trap is one of the biggest reasons that most inboxes are broken.
The proper use of Groupsites fixes this problem.
The Trap
Someone sends an email to a distribution list of people. This could be as few as a dozen or in the case of some listservs, it could be thousands.
An innocent question, like: "Has anyone bought a new iPhone 3G yet?"
Of the 12 people, one has and could simply reply to the sender, "Yes, and I love it." But instead, they fall into the "reply-all" trap and wind up telling 12 people by hitting the reply-all link.
Now comes the piling on. 3 of the recipients hit their reply-all button in response saying, "Why are you wasting work-time asking questions like this?" Now 3 others respond by saying "I agree. I don't have time for this."
Someone adds. "I bet you would have time if you were sending this email on a cool iPhone."
Total emails sent in just 3 minutes: 72.
How to Avoid the Trap
There are a number of features in a Groupsite that help you avoid this problem.
1. Groupsites Don't Live in Your Inbox
Unlike email and listservs, which only exist in your inbox, a Groupsite is a destination on the web, separate from your inbox. Whether your Groupsite is professional or social in nature, all of the communicating, sharing and networking happens within the Groupsite - unless you decide you want the Groupsite to also interact with your inbox. It is your decision and you set the terms.
2. Email Blasts
A Groupsite manager can allow email blasts to be sent by Groupsite members or just by managers. If they are allowed by all members, you can still decide if you want to receive them or not. (How-to video is below)
3. No Reply-All Button
If you do receive an email blast from your Groupsite, one of the first things you will notice is that there is no reply-all option! In Groupsites, email blasts are used to get the word out. If a group dialogue is required, that's when you should get out of the "inbox" and use our Discussion Forums. In fact, when you send an email blast, you can also create a Discussion Forum based on the blast. (How-to video is below)
4. Private Messages
Groupsites also give you the ability to send Private Messages. So sometimes, if your question (or your answer) does not need to be shared with the entire group, simply send a Private Message. (How-to link is below)
5. Discussion Subscriptions
Discussion Forums exist outside of your inbox within your Groupsite. However, if you want to keep up with a Groupsite Discussion via your inbox you can by "subscribing" to that Discussion. That way, only the communications you're interested in come to you.
6. Recent Activity Updates
Finally, maybe you would like to keep up with the activity in your Groupsite but do not need to have everything hit your inbox in real-time. Groupsites offer convenient Recent Activity Reports which summarize all types of activity within a Groupsite (or only the types of activities that interest you) which arrive in your inbox as frequently (or infrequently) as you choose (options are: once a day, twice a week, every two weeks or never).
Here's an example of what a Recent Activity Update looks like in your inbox (all summary totals are links to those sections of your Groupsite):
How to videos and links:
Controlling Email Blasts:
How to Control Email Blasts in a Groupsite from Shaun Callahan on Vimeo.
Create Discussion Forum From Email Blast:
How To Create a Discussion Forum From an Email Blast in a Groupsite from Shaun Callahan on Vimeo.
Sending Private Messages:
Click here to learn how to send a Private Message within a Groupsite
Subscribing to Discussions:
How To Subscribe to a Discussion in a Groupsite from Shaun Callahan on Vimeo.
Setting Recent Activity Update Preferences:
How To Set Recent Activity Update Preferences in a Groupsite from Shaun Callahan on Vimeo.