Survey

Intermedia, a global leader in cloud services and one of the largest Microsoft (News - Alert) Exchange hosting provider, in a survey has noted that majoirty of people consider taking conference calls in public as inappropriate.

As per the business communications survey, conducted by Harris Interactive (News - Alert) on behalf of Intermedia, 81 percent of respondents said that it is somewhat/completely inappropriate to take a conference call on a cell phone while in public.

While 71 percent of those in the 18-34 age range in the survey said that it is completely/somewhat inappropriate to take a conference call from a public place, that number skyrockets to 98 percent for those 55 and older.

On the other hand, after-hours texting between colleagues isn't seen widely as impolite, with over half saying it is okay to do so.

"New tools for communication -- from tablets to social media -- are creating new etiquette questions," said Manlio Carrelli, CMO, Intermedia (News - Alert), in a statement.

"Common sense still applies to issues like taking conference calls in public settings -- be respectful of your neighbors. Questions like using emoticons are more nuanced. For instance, many of the global small businesses we work with find emoticons occasionally useful for communicating tone across borders, but using them in other settings, such as when sending a sales proposal, is likely not appropriate," said Carrelli.

The survey came out with some interesting facts including that two out of three said it is completely/somewhat inappropriate to connect with a boss on social media platforms such as Facebook (News - Alert).

At least 66 percent were of the opinion that using emoticons, such as smiley faces in emails and instant messages, isn't appropriate.

Perception of emoticons does vary based on workers' age, with 77 percent of workers who are 55+ saying emoticons are inappropriate -- but only 58 percent of workers who are 18-34 agreeing.

Around 81 percent agreed that copying a person's boss on an email in order to gain leverage is inappropriate, preferring to first work out issues directly with coworkers.

Intermedia offers a suite of hosted communications and collaboration software, including Exchange 2010, hosted PBX, Online Backup, Email Encryption, Office Communications Server 2007, SharePoint 2010, and an entire ecosystem of related offerings including support for BlackBerry, iPhone, Android (News - Alert) phones, fax lines and more.