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5 New Communication Technologies To Supplement Email
By Gerald Chait (c) 2006

Every business relies on effective communication with its
customers. Communication doesn't just convey information, it
inspires trust, builds credibility, stimulates involvement and
generates loyalty. But in today's global, hi-tech, rapidly
changing business environment, how do you ensure you're
communicating effectively?

The Benchmark - Face-To-Face

There's no doubt that face-to-face communication is the most
effective method for most people. Why? Because of its two-way
nature. It's about dialogue. Listeners are not passive
participants. When someone talks to us, we send a continuous
stream of responses back to them. Some are verbal, but
many/most are not. These responses have the power to actually
change the message being disseminated by the talker. What's
more, they have the power to change how other listeners'
interpret that message. (Similarly, other listeners have the
power to change your interpretation.)

Unfortunately, however, the global nature of business makes it
impossible to conduct face-to-face meetings for every
communication. So what are the alternatives? Specifically, what
are the alternatives offered by technology?

Email - The Starting Point

The benefits of email are numerous and well known, and include
(but are not limited to):

•Email is an excellent mechanism for distributing information
to people. It is fast and cost effective.

•It is incredibly convenient - you can readily communicate
across time zones.

•It provides a useful electronic paper trail.

•It can save a great deal of time because most of the fluff
surrounding a phone call (the social niceties) are seen as
unnecessary in email.

•It allows recipients to read and respond to messages in their
own time.

•The wording, grammar and punctuation in an email can be
considered and edited before finally sending.

But email does have its limitations:

•Its lack of social niceties is a double-edged sword. Without
the benefit of other communication cues, it's sometimes hard to
interpret the tone of an email, and this can make some messages
ambiguous.

•It isn't ideal for critical communication. For many people,
emails are not 'real-time' communication. We all have that
unaddressed email sitting at the bottom of the list. Because
emails are so easy to ignore, they're also easy to forget.

•Ironically, email's dissemination effectiveness has been one
of the major impediments to its communication effectiveness.
It's so easy to send emails - and they're so anonymous - that
our inboxes are now flooded with Spam. Consequently, emails are
viewed with some suspicion. It's sometimes hard to identify
legitimate emails, but it's very easy to just hit Delete.

•Because email senders are typically geographically (and often
culturally) distant from their recipients, they have no
immediate visual and aural cues to help them tailor the message
as they type.

But there's no need to 'throw out the baby with the bathwater'.
Email is an excellent solution to many communication needs. And
for those it is ill-equipped to handle, there are newer, more
appropriate technologies that are built for the job...

Web 2.0 Technologies - The Perfect Supplement

Web 2.0, a term coined by O'Reilly Media (an American media
company) in 2004 refers to a second-generation of
internet-based services that let people collaborate and share
information online in new ways.

Web 2.0 technologies are well defined in www.wikipaedia.org,
which suggests that these sites allow the users of the sites
(members) to create and share content, including exploring and
discussing ideas, opinions, initiatives and issues. Web 2.0 is
all about communication. It is the evolution of the internet
from an endless library of static pages to an endless world of
conversations. These pages can be restricted to particular
individuals (eg the executive), or open to all members. The
only difference is that the interaction takes place in
cyberspace, and those taking part can be sitting behind a
keyboard just about anywhere on the planet.

Importantly, a reader's understanding of the message in a Web
2.0 communication is determined, not just by the publisher, but
also by the responses (e.g. comments) of the audience. What's
more, the publisher's actual message tends to be far more fluid
as it, too, is informed by the responses of the audience. In
other words, Web 2.0 services are far more like face-to-face
conversations than any communication technology before them.

So what are these emerging technologies that we should be
keeping an eye on? The two most notable are 'Wikis' and
'Blogs'. The following definitions are from
http://www.wikipedia.org, an online encyclopaedia developed as
a wiki.

•Wikis - A wiki is a type of website that allows users to
easily add, remove or otherwise edit and change content. This
ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective
tool for collaborative authoring. Examples include Wikipedia
(wikipedia.com) and wikiwikiweb (http://www.wikiwikiweb.com).

•Blogs - A weblog, which is usually shortened to blog, is a
type of online diary or journal which allows one to voice their
opinion on something. Blogs often provide commentary or news and
information on a particular subject. A typical blog combines
text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other
media. Blogs are usually text based, but they can include
photographs, videos or audio (podcasting). Blogs can be
presented in a way that creates a conversation between users.
As an example, see the Sydney Morning Herald travel blog
(http://blogs.smh.com.au/lostintransit/).

The Uses Of Web 2.0

As with face-to-face social gatherings and forums, online get
togethers attract a broad spectrum of participants eager to
engage, entertain, befriend, advise and lecture.

It was reported in The Australian (Tuesday 8 August 2006) that
the social computing element of Web 2.0 has recently been
embraced by the US Government. The US State Department has
started including blogs and other Web 2.0 concepts to deliver
public information to citizens. It is also using wiki style
services to improve information by permitting small expert
communities to improve advisory services.

The same article advised that Australia’s leading information
advisory body, the Australian Government Information Management
Office, had begun experimenting with the use of blogs, wikis and
other Web 2.0 technologies.

As new online social networks mushroom, they are becoming
increasingly focused on niches, ideally suited to membership
based organizations and the NFP sector. Examples of general
public social networks include My Space
(http://www.myspace.com), Classmates
(http://www.classmates.com) and Bikely (bikely.com).

Other Useful Technologies

•SMS - Short Message Service (SMS) is a service available on
most digital mobile phones (and other mobile devices, e.g. a
Pocket PC, or occasionally even desktop computers) that permits
the sending of short messages between mobile phones, other
handheld devices and even landline telephones.

•Podcast - Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia
files, such as audio or video programs, over the internet using
syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal
computers.

•Webinars - Web conferencing is used to hold group meetings or
live presentations over the internet. In the early years of the
internet, the terms "web conferencing" and "computer
conferencing" were often used to refer to group discussions
conducted within a message board (via posted text messages),
but the term has evolved to refer specifically to "live" or
"synchronous" meetings, while the posted message variety of
discussion is called a "forum", "message board", or "bulletin
board". A webinar is a seminar which is conducted over the
World Wide Web. It is a type of web conferencing. In contrast
to a Webcast, which is transmission of information in one
direction only, a webinar is designed to be interactive between
the presenter and audience. A webinar is 'live' in the sense
that information is conveyed according to an agenda, with a
starting and ending time. In most cases, the presenter may
speak over a standard telephone line, pointing out information
being presented on screen, and the audience can respond over
their own telephones, preferably a speakerphone. Whilst not
necessarily considered Web 2.0, Webinars can also be a useful
mechanism for information distribution and discussion amongst
membership based organizations and SMS can provide important or
urgent confirmations.

Conclusion

Email is - and will continue to be - an incredibly useful and
convenient communication tool. In fact, with the emergence of
new technologies that are either more direct, more immediate,
or more like face-to-face communication, email is improved. As
businesses supplement their email usage with other
communication technologies, email will be increasingly reserved
for those communications to which it is ideally suited.
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Gerald is GM, Sales & Marketing of Software Design Group (SDG):
Website Development, Design, Search Engine Optimisation, Network
Support, Outsourcing Solutions, Help Desk Support, Application
Development, Hardware & Software Sales.
Gerald.chait@sdgtechnology.com.au or http://www.sdgtechnology.com.au
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