Practicing safe @mentions

Using @mentions within discussions is the best way to get another user’s attention.

There’s no fuzzy matching going on here though.

Like most social sites, Kumu expects the name after the @ to be a username. If the user is found, they’ll be notified of the comment and automatically added as a follower.

Mentioned users will be notified even if they’ve chosen to ignore the discussion. And because many email clients prioritize TO over CC over BCC, we notify mentioned users via TO, participants via CC, and followers via BCC.

This means @mentioning a user is the best way to make sure the comment gets read.

So here’s three simple steps to safe @mentioning and being @mentionable:

1. Don’t be sloppy with your @mentions. Use the full username or don’t use the @mention format. You may accidentally spam other users. And nobody likes spam!
2. Reply on Kumu if you want to @mention someone but you’re not sure what the username is. Let the autocomplete help you @mention the right user.
3. Make sure your username is something personal and feels natural to @mention. It’s alright to have multiple user accounts, but you should only work under your personal account. The others should be treated as organization accounts, used to group related projects, with your personal account added as a manager.

Originally published at blog.kumu.io on June 18, 2014.