People sometimes reserve public channels for team-wide announcements, keeping most communication in direct messages and private channels, which unnecessarily silos information into private discussions.

A DM not only sends a notification to the recipient but requires someone’s full attention to read. And if people choose to ignore it until later, they’ll still have a red badge on their app.

Instead, create a culture where the default is posting in a channel and where using a @username mention is reserved for specific requests or urgent matters. DMs serve a purpose and are great for personal, private conversations, but chances are much of your workplace communication is appropriate for a team channel—and relevant to the wider group too.

When you commit to posting to public channels and using features like threads and emoji reactions, others in your organisation are likely to follow your example.