Guess what my friend did He accidentally replied all, saying, Thank you.

Shape By Hillel Fuld hilzfuld Getty Images With all due respect to messaging and social networking, email remains the key form of business communication.

Often, it is not the content of the email, but rather, the senders etiquette (or lack thereof).

When using email so often throughout our business lives, we sometimes neglect the basic rules of communication: being polite, addressing people properly, responding in a timely manner, and more.

BCC is the perfect example of how email can be used effectively or completely abused.

When using BCC, do we even think about what were doing and how it can potentially backfire Its happened to me more than once.

To save you some serious embarrassment, Id like to address the issue here and now.

If you need to send one--you have a newsletter, for example, or youre sending out an invitation to your sons bar mitzvah--letting everyone see every recipients email address is a huge no-no.

Use BCC. As an online writer, I often get pitches to my inbox, which are sent to hundreds (if not thousands) of bloggers and journalists.

If youre a PR person, pay attention: This isnt the way to do PR, not even close.

If, for whatever reason, you think that email is a good idea, use BCC.

No journalist wants her email given to hundreds of other people she doesnt know.

If you dont use BCC in that scenario, you can expect to get blacklisted by a whole lot of journalists.

Or family members who disagree with your bar mitzvah invite list.

Second, you absolutely must use BCC when someone introduces you to someone else.

The person who made the intro did a nice thing, and shouldnt have to suffer through every response to that original email.

By BCCing that person, youre thereby releasing them from the emails that will follow.

Its common courtesy and should be done 1-2 emails after their intro.

In every other case, when you email someone and BCC someone else, youre being dishonest--like it or not.

You are emailing Person X and without them knowing, letting Person Y eavesdrop on your conversation.

Person X has no idea that someone else is reading this email, when in reality, you secretly sent it to someone else as well.

Its not. In business, integrity and transparency are your most important characteristics.

If youre the type to BCC people on all your emails, youre not the type of person with whom I want to do business.

I once emailed a very high level executive at Google to recommend a friend for a job.

I made the mistake of BCCing that friend to let him know I was sending that email.

Ablebits Auto Bcc Key