November 11th, 2008
CC: You. Now What?
“CC” originally meant “carbon copy,” but what does it mean now that the Internet has replaced carbon paper? Carbon copies — for those of us who remember — were thin, poor-quality reproductions of an original document. You sent a carbon copy to interested people who didn’t need to reply, unlike the intended recipient, who got the original. Electronically, CC works like this: everyone can see all the addresses in the CC field, and if any recipient hits “reply to all,” their message goes to all the original recipients AND everyone in the CC field.
When you are CC’d in an e-mail, go ahead and file the e-mail if you like. The author made no secret that you were looking at the e-mail, and felt that you would find its message relevant. If you’d like to respond, however, think carefully before choosing “reply to all”. Send your message only to people who really need to have your response.
For more tips on using e-mail in the workplace, check out E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide.
Tags: carbon copy, CC, e-mail