Watch your tone

Such agony is what inspired Lymbix, the makers of a ToneCheck Outlook plug-in that checks the emotional tone of content in e-mail. Similar to the way that “T9” predicts your texts, making it easier to type text messages, ToneCheck acts as a kind of “emotional spell-check.” The plug-in offers typists a chance to reconsider the impact of their words before hitting “send.”

And it appears to be catching on. Recently, ToneCheck entered an agreement with Sherpa Software to bring its sentiment analysis technology to IBM’s suite of Lotus products. Sherpa Software will license the ToneCheck API to develop a plug-in for enterprise e-mail and collaboration software, Lotus Notes.

So, can ToneCheck be trusted? Can technology really read between the lines—lines we, ourselves, can’t even see?

It’s true that the way we portray ourselves and the way we’re received are essential components of good communication, especially in a business environment. And yet, even in this tech-driven age, there’s still the sense that people control technology—not the other way around. ToneCheck, however, is advocating just the opposite. It calls into question the very ability we have to properly express ourselves. Without ToneCheck, can we really convey what we mean?

I can understand why a company would feel compelled to implement the plug-in, but I’m surprised to see IBM as the one taking the emotive reigns. With the advent of a “Smarter Planet,” signaling the transition from marketing products to marketing solutions, IBM is agreeing to an offer that could potentially lead to more hiccups than results.

Not only does the plug-in have the potential to polarize the way employees communicate with each other, but also like “T9,” there are some flaws with the way it operates. For example, it interprets common phrases like “In less than an hour” as humiliating, simply because of the inclusion of “less.”

Still, I look forwarding to seeing how this plug-in will impact IBM’s Lotus Notes. Can a tool more accurately gage what we what we intend to say? Or, should we take a note from Mitch Noel in his blog “Six Pixels of Separation,” and simply go back to picking up the phone and/or walking into someone’s office? Because no matter how fast technology advances, one-on-one interaction seems to prevail.

According to interbrand.com