# Working with other people online

Communication and collaboration: which channel, who can see it, what you leave behind.

7 screens, about three minutes. Pictures, almost no words.

## Two people, one message.

*Picture: Two people drawn as squares, facing each other with a line between them.*

The whole area is deciding how.

## The channel is a choice.

*Picture: Four boxes in a row labelled a chat, an email, a meeting, a shared document.*

Most people use whatever is already open.

## More people see it than you meant.

*Picture: One large box labelled a message with a dashed frame around it labelled everyone who can see it.*

A channel decides who, and it decides quietly.

## Nothing you send stops existing.

*Picture: A row of three boxes labelled sent, stored, searchable, with arrows between them.*

It is kept, and findable later.

## Tone does not travel.

*Picture: A dashed frame labelled you online holding two boxes: what you meant and what they read.*

Short reads as cross. Say the extra sentence.

## Do today

Take one message you were about to send in a chat and send it as an email instead, or the other way round.

---

Read it as a page: [howtobedigital.com/explain/working-with-other-people-online/](/explain/working-with-other-people-online/)

More explainers: [/explain/](/explain/). Lessons: [/learn/](/learn/).