BUSINESS people send out some six trillion e-mail messages each year, according to US-based Ferris Research. That's probably not much of a surprise to most office workers today, who have seen e-mail usurp meetings and face-to-face conversations as a primary form of communication.

What may be less obvious, however, is just how important e-mail is to your reputation. 'The potential for electronic disaster is huge if you are not careful to write messages that are clean and clear,' says Nancy Flynn, a US-based communications specialist and author a book on e-mail etiquette.

It's no longer enough simply to avoid common e-mail blunders such as using all capital letters, failing to proofread your messages, or sending off a message in anger. 'Careless e-mail messages,' Flynn notes, 'have resulted in lost productivity, financial losses... and even lawsuits.'

Well here are a couple of pointers with regard to sending e-mails to colleagues.

• Given the amount of e-mail that business people receive these days, it's no treat to see a lengthy e-mail message from a business associate. E-mail is used most effectively to communicate information that would be a waste of time to convey face to face.
  
  
• If what you have to say to a business colleague would occupy more than two paragraphs in an e-mail message, a phone conversation or personal meeting makes more sense. Use e-mail to save time - not to waste it.

Photographs: Stock Xchange