Wow, great thought. Why do we maintain the Cc? Like, what is the difference between putting someone in the "To" field as opposed to the Cc field in a corporate email in 2023? I ask as an ignorant millennial: does the Cc actually afford something different to the recipient of a Cc'd email? I still sometimes use it out of habit when I want the Cc'd person to feel a bit more like an FYI, but in practice that makes little sense, since the missive ends up in the Cc'd recipients inbox in exactly the same way.
These are great questions Sam! You're totally right, there is no real difference to the way that message appears in someone's inbox whether they're in the "to" field or "Cc'd". At least as far as I know. It seems like it may be a useful function in some inboxes to group Cc'd messages differently but it's not that way by default. It's more about the psychology and context that the business world has applied to the Cc. Yeah, it's an FYI or nice to know but typically doesn't require any action on the part of the Cc recipient.
I used to work at a company that really took the Cc seriously. The CEO would send a regular email reminding employees that every time you added someone to an email thread it was taking a few minutes of their precious time and shouldn't be done lightly. And I've also worked at companies where an email without anyone Cc'd was hardly considered an e-mail at all. Gotta be a "team player" and Cc at least one other person. How dare you try to do work independently, haha. It's a crazy work world we live in.
Yes, you are so right! I totally should have mentioned Whatsapp. Yep, I'm in a few of those groups too. I guess we'll always find some new technology to passively share information that may or may not be valuable for all, haha. Thanks for sharing, Punit!
Wow, great thought. Why do we maintain the Cc? Like, what is the difference between putting someone in the "To" field as opposed to the Cc field in a corporate email in 2023? I ask as an ignorant millennial: does the Cc actually afford something different to the recipient of a Cc'd email? I still sometimes use it out of habit when I want the Cc'd person to feel a bit more like an FYI, but in practice that makes little sense, since the missive ends up in the Cc'd recipients inbox in exactly the same way.
These are great questions Sam! You're totally right, there is no real difference to the way that message appears in someone's inbox whether they're in the "to" field or "Cc'd". At least as far as I know. It seems like it may be a useful function in some inboxes to group Cc'd messages differently but it's not that way by default. It's more about the psychology and context that the business world has applied to the Cc. Yeah, it's an FYI or nice to know but typically doesn't require any action on the part of the Cc recipient.
I used to work at a company that really took the Cc seriously. The CEO would send a regular email reminding employees that every time you added someone to an email thread it was taking a few minutes of their precious time and shouldn't be done lightly. And I've also worked at companies where an email without anyone Cc'd was hardly considered an e-mail at all. Gotta be a "team player" and Cc at least one other person. How dare you try to do work independently, haha. It's a crazy work world we live in.
Whatsapp groups are the new cc. "Let's send the update on the group so that everyyyyyone knows." 😂
Yes, you are so right! I totally should have mentioned Whatsapp. Yep, I'm in a few of those groups too. I guess we'll always find some new technology to passively share information that may or may not be valuable for all, haha. Thanks for sharing, Punit!
There was once a group full of chatter,
where people shared each trivial matter.
They texted all day,
had nothing to say,
they made their own phone batteries shatter.
That's amazing, you always have the perfect poems. Thanks Punit!
You're too kind 😀