Response to Writing Effective E-mails

As I read Writing Effective E-mails, I realized that in general, I follow the majority of these tips while writing e-mails. I also noticed that I almost never use e-mail for informal communication. At this point actually composing an e-mail and sending it to someone, rather than simply using some sort of IM or social network is tantamount to sitting down and composing a formal letter on a typewriter. I really don't use e-mail for anything non-formal, so I tend to apply the same set of conventions to e-mail that I apply to more formal writing.

Messages I send on social networks are a completely different story. As much as I hate to admit it, I am 100% guilty of sending messages with the vague and useless subject: "Hey man." In all fairness, those tend to be messages with no other purpose than to say hi (I have LOTS of free time). While I already essentially follow the tips in my e-mails, I think that in most cases they should be applied to other forms of online correspondence. To that end, its something I'm going to have to work on.