With the popularity of Tweeting on the rise, I’m becoming increasingly aware of the power of short messages. As a result I’m increasingly focused on writing my emails so that the core of the message is visible in the Desktop Alerts. I’m talking about those temporary email pop-ups near the lower right-hand corner of the screen.

I currently use Microsoft Outlook and I have the Desktop Alert feature enabled which will show you very briefly part of the subject and first line of any incoming emails. Other email programs have a similar feature.

I know most everyone else leaves this feature turned on, so I’m taking advantage of it.  I do that by making sure the action is in the first line of the message so the recipient is immediately “pinged” as to the relevance of my message.

Ideal if the person I’m reaching is heads-down on a spreadsheet or sitting on a long conference call.