I hope everyone is having a great week!
I remember that one of the areas we spent a lot of time on was when we started to discuss Email Essentials, specifically the use of BCC and CC in sending our emails.
I think it was clear to everyone what and how to use the CC feature of our emails. Allow me to share with you now, some information I was able to gather regarding the proper use of the BCC (blind carbon copy / blind copy circulated) feature of emails.
TO : is used for the primary recipients
CC : is used for those involved / interested parties but not required to reply. In other words, parties to whom the information contained may be of interest because of their involvement in the email subject matter.
BCC is used:
- To prevent an accidental "Reply All" from sending a reply intended for only the originator of the message to the entire recipient list.
- To send a copy of one's correspondence to a third party (for example, a colleague) when one does not want to let the recipient know that this is being done (or when one does not want the recipient to know the third party's email address, assuming the other recipient is in the To: or Cc: fields).
- To send a message to multiple parties with none of them knowing the other recipients. This can be accomplished by addressing a message to oneself and filling in the actual intended recipients in the Bcc: field. However, this does not ensure that the Bcc: addresses will be hidden from other Bcc: addresses in all implementations.
- To prevent the spread of computer viruses, spam and malware by avoiding the accumulation of block-list e-mail addresses available to all Bcc: recipients, which often occurs in the form of chain letters.
Some Disadvantages of Using BCC:
In some cases, use of Blind Carbon Copy may be viewed as mildly unethical. The original addressee of the mail (To: address) is left under the impression that communication is proceeding between the known parties, and is knowingly kept unaware of others participating in the primary communication.
A related risk is that by (unintentional) use of 'reply to all' functionality by someone on BCC, the original addressee is (inadvertently) made aware of this participation. For this reason, it is in some cases better to separately forward the original e-mail.
Depending on the particular email software used, the recipient may or may not know that the message has been sent via BCC. In some cases, ‘undisclosed recipients’ placed in the To: line (by the software) shows that BCC has been used. In other cases, the message appears identical to one sent to a single addressee. The recipient does not necessarily see the email address (and real name, if any) originally placed in the To: line.
I think that given the information above, we should now all be able to decide whether or not to use the BCC feature in sending our emails. It is a feature, it has advantages and benefits but to use it for purposes other than what it was originally intended for is unethical and therefore unprofessional. Something that would not be expected of a Sta. Clara Professional.
Have a great rest of the week!
