A look At Communication, Audience and Purpose

Communication is obviously a social affair one's audience must be remembered whether one is engaging in interpersonal or business communication.

Interpersonal communication as a general concept is the process of sending and receiving information between two or more people. because of this, it may be seen that business communication is a subset of interpersonal communication.
While business communication is clearly articulable as the kind of information sharing that would or should occur in a business atmosphere, interpersonal communication contains within it all forms of multi-person communication. This then includes both business communication and something much less formal like two friends chatting about sports.

Audience is different by definition. You are either talking to someone with whom you are conducting business with or you are talking to someone on a personal level. And the purpose is quite clear as well, you are either engaging a person for a reason that relates directly to the furthering of your and their business goals or you're engaging them to further personal goals.

Tone is the hardest to pin down. Usually for interpersonal communication tone is either light or emotional. Business communication can often require a certain amount of levity in order to put the other person at ease. As a general rule business tone is unemotional and almost mechanical. In the United States it attempts to be pleasant which adds to its seeming lack of emotion.

Facebook is Good for Self Esteem

Facebook has certainly been a major player in changing how we communicate with other people. That is to say, impersonally.
With the advent of new communication technology, people have become more and more interconnected. I can communicate with my friend's and family across the country and world almost immediately and at any time that I choose to.
The cost of instant communication is that it is almost entirely impersonal. Entire relationships can be had without seeing someones face or even hearing their voice.

Facebook is increasingly popular nowadays. facebook developers are competing to give the best features in terms of socialization, interaction, privacy and even entertainment. It is not surprising that many people are hooked on with facebook since it is free and easily accessible with the use of a computer connected to the Internet and even with the use of a mobile phone that enables facebook applications or Internet browsing.

I pose the following questions:

Does facebook usage affect interpersonal relationships?

Do people rely too much on the fastest way of communicating on the Internet despite the lack of face-to-face interaction?

Research has proven that facebook is good for your self esteem. To our knowledge one study describes the first known experimental test on how exposure to facebook generally enhances self esteem.

The facebook experience creates a hyper personal which is due to selective self-presentation on facebook that ultimately enhances self esteem.

These findings demonstrate that the Internet indeed generates a unique form of self-awareness which differs from previous offline stimuli.

Your Online Audience

“When you find online niches where your company fits naturally, there's no reason to be hesitant about joining the community and making it aware of your products or services, as long as you do so gracefully and politely, focused on what you can add to the discussion rather than on making a sale,” (http://tinyurl.com/4nrffbl).

Marketing and even general communication have different rules of engagement on an online platform. When online, we make an extra effort to find a group to belong to so that we may share our opinions freely with one another and create an interpersonal online relationship that bonds us by commonalities. It’s important to find the correct audience; otherwise, your message may go unnoticed or be shunned. In this instance, the product you bring to an online conversation may be the informative content you have to share with the group or your original ideas. The key to building a positive reputation in an online forum is being informative and punctual while maintaining integrity. You will lack in the success of sharing your content if you do not achieve a conversation with the correct audience for your product while also being ethical.

Business Week believes that finding an intended audience will take some time but it is a fairly straightforward process; “Start by entering your industry and product keywords on Google and other major and specialized search engines. Follow the links that show up, bookmark the interesting ones, and lurk until you've got a feel for the community” (http://tinyurl.com/4nrffbl). While this may seem a bit simplified, it is important to find the appropriate audience that will understand why you are delivering the content that you are, so you make take your time researching your audience. Become well informed of the platform that exists before you join so that you don't change the format but add to it instead.

The purpose behind the online audience’s support within these platforms is to grow the strength in unity behind the shared idea, so you must be sure that you find the right audience that matches your necessary demographics. The stronger the idea becomes with support and exposure through the correct audience, the more likely it is to be picked up by someone who may be likely to make a difference beyond just the online group. This person is a part of the target audience we all strive to reach, and this person creates the “tipping point” for your cause; this person could even be you. Ideally, your information will become imperative to the others within the audience, and this will allow you to achieve total success in educating your audiences and building your necessary online support.

References

Klein, K. E. (2006, September). Finding Your Online Audience. Business Week. Retrieved February 26, 2011 from http://tinyurl.com/4nrffbl

Are learning styles and communication styles one and the same?

One of the most common catch phrases in the instructional design space is “show me, tell me, let me try.” These seven words capture the very essence of our individual learning styles. Put another way, some of us learn best when we are shown an example (visual learners), others when explained (auditory learners) and others when given a handout (kinesthetic learners).

According to Instructor Magazine, “There are three basic types of learning styles. The three most common are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. To learn, we depend on our senses to process the information around us. Most people tend to use one of their senses more than the others….” While the concept applies mainly to learning styles, given the similarities to communication, it’s reasonable to extend these concepts to how we deliver and receive information. Ever have a long conversation and still feel as though you’re still not on the same page? Perhaps it wasn’t the message, but rather the medium.

If we accept the notion that we receive information best when it’s delivered in a way that aligns with our learning style – mine personally, is kinesthetic – than knowing our style and the styles of those you often communicate with, may prove very helpful in creating effective levels of communication. Let’s look at a few simple example: for those who prefer auditory, a phone call may be the best medium for communication. For those who prefer visual, perhaps e-mail.

Not to be taken to the extreme, applying these concepts as a matter of aligning with preference consideration may help you and those with whom you communicate have an enjoyable experience.


Resource:

Learning Styles. (1989). What's YOUR Learning Style? http://people.usd.edu/~bwjames/tut/learning-style/