Here are 10 suggestions to consider when penning your next text message:

1. Don’t rely on e-mail as your only line of communication.
It may be fast and easy, but it really shouldn't replace true human interaction. There's a lot to be said for communicating face-to-face. Even when you include delivery receipts, you can’t guarantee that the message reached the intended party in a timely manner. Just because a read receipt comes back doesn’t mean the message was viewed. Many systems generate such a response if the message header was highlighted for more than a few seconds or if the message sat in the preview pane.

2. Keep messages short and don't use long message chains.
Admit it—e-mail that takes up more than one screen isn’t often read immediately. Plus, reading e-mail is interrupted by other tasks (i.e., answering the phone, working on documents, etc.) If your message is too long, more than a simple browsing may be pushed to the end of someone else’s day.

3. Be straightforward.
No one has time to guess what you’re trying to communicate. Use clear subject lines. Be specific if particular actions on the part of the reader are required. Spell everything out. If there are a series of questions or tasks involved, consider using a numbered or bulleted list.

4. Encourage questions.
If you require reader interaction, don't create a misunderstanding by being unapproachable. Offer to answer any questions or concerns your message may create.

5. Don't attack people in your e-mail messages.
E-mail used for personal attacks, known as "flame” e-mail, often doesn’t produce the desired results. In fact, when not accompanied by human interaction (i.e., facial expressions or body language), the intent easily becomes more intense than intended.

6. The use of humor is okay, but don't overuse emoticons (i.e., smiley faces) and keep joke forwarding to a minimum.
Smiley faces are cute and can clarify when you're in a playful mood. But if you do too much of this, people tend to have a hard time taking you seriously when they need to. Emoticons can also distract from the actual content of the message. Many individuals devote too much time during their workday fighting spam and other junk e-mail. If you forward additional joke e-mail, you run the chance of getting your e-mail address blacklisted by someone’s spam filter. If that happens, none of your messages get read.

7. Don't e-mail angry.
Look, no message you’re sending is that important. If it were, you wouldn’t be sending it as e-mail. Wait at least 5-minutes before you respond. In fact, you might want to wait for an additional 5-minutes after writing your response. Read over what you’ve said to avoid misunderstandings. Quick responses result in poorly written messages. When you're angry, matters become worse.

8. Schedule time to manage your e-mail daily.
It’s never too late to respond to someone via e-mail. Most realize that with the amount of information we deal with each day, e-mail builds up and becomes pushed down in the shuffle. Set time aside each day to manage your e-mail. Just make sure you provide a good reason when a priority message has fallen to the bottom of your Inbox.

9. Learn to write effective e-mail.
If you can't write effectively, get training. At the very least, seek help from others by having them critique the tone and content of your messages. It might do you some good to know how others interpret your writing before it goes out.

10. Check your spelling and grammar.
Misspelled words and poor sentences detract from your message content. Don’t make yourself look bad by sending messages with poor spelling. Since most e-mail clients include some method of checking, there’s no excuse. And it doesn’t take that long to reread what you’ve written to insure proper content (especially if you’ve followed the other advice above).