Keep me posted meaning: tell me what happens

What keep me posted asks for

Keep me posted asks you to tell the speaker about new developments as they happen. One dictionary says it’s used most when a situation is changing quickly: a delayed delivery, a sick contractor, a client choosing between two offers.

It sets no time and no format. That’s why it’s easy to say, and why it’s easy to forget. The speaker hears a promise. The listener hears a suggestion.

It ends a lot of phone calls. Someone has news pending, nobody can do anything until it lands, and keep me posted is the polite way to hang up.

Posted, from the ledger

Posted in this sense came out of bookkeeping. To post was to copy entries from a day book into the ledger, a sense recorded from the 1620s. By 1828, American English used posted to mean supplied with the latest news.

So a well-posted clerk had the books up to date, and a well-posted manager has had your updates. A dated variant, keep someone posted up, carried one more word.

Who’s asking changes it

A colleague means friendly interest: they care how it turns out and don’t want to chase. A manager means a standing instruction, and the updates are now part of your job. Clients use it as a polite way of saying the next move is yours. And when someone senior is about to go on leave, it means the updates will pile up unread until they’re back.

How to reply to it

“Will do” is a complete answer, and it promises nothing. A better one names the next update: “Will do. I’ll send a note once the parts are in, Thursday at the latest.” If the situation will run for weeks, agree a regular cadence instead of a stream of one-off notes. The reply that guarantees a chase later is “sure”, with no date.

If you’re the one waiting, say what counts as news. “Tell me if the date moves” saves you a daily update about nothing.

Other ways to say it

The fix is the same as for most vague requests: add a time or a trigger.

• “Tell me when you hear back from legal.”
• “Send me a note when it’s fixed.”
• “Send me an update on Thursday, even if nothing has changed.”
• “Loop me in if anything slips.”

For the reverse, “I’ll keep you posted” has plainer versions too: “I’ll email you by Friday” or “I’ll call you when the parts land.”

In the loop, the friendlier cousin

Keep me in the loop asks for the same updates with a gentler picture. Australian workers rated in the loop the least hated phrase on the list, with only 5.3% disliking it. Being kept informed bothers almost nobody. Waiting is the part people mind.

The update that never comes

Keep me posted starts a chain every office knows. Silence follows. Then a gentle reminder, then per my last email, then a meeting to discuss communication. Circle back is the same promise, said in a room.

The chain breaks the moment somebody writes a date. That’s the whole trick, and it’s free.

I’ll keep you posted

Said back, it’s often the last word on a project. A supplier who promises to keep you posted about a delay has told you the delay has no end date. If there’s no date in the sentence, set one yourself in the reply. Vendors, landlords and IT tickets all say it, and all three are hard to chase.

A reply of noted is at least honest: it promises nothing and admits it. “I’ll keep you posted” promises something and schedules nothing.

Keep me posted from the top

When a director writes keep me posted on a thread, the thread changes. Everyone copied now sends updates to one more person, and each update gets a little more polished than the work. The same request from a peer gets a thumbs-up and a reply on Friday. Most update requests in the corporate jargon dictionary share the same gap: no date.

Posted, not posting

Keep me posted has nothing to do with LinkedIn, though some people answer it with a post. A project update shared as a 600-word announcement about growth keeps everyone posted in the other sense.

A reply with keep me posted

Subject: RE: Laptop delivery for new starters

Hi Jo, thanks for the warning about the shipping delay. The two new starters begin on the 6th, so I’ll set them up on spare machines until then. Please keep me posted tell me what happens.

Thanks, Owen