Challenges in Oline  communication
By Kidendei Segereti S
Nonverbal cues

When e-mail first was introduced, people thought it was impossible to have other interactions than the exchange of short task-oriented messages. Remarkably, the same opinion existed when the telephone was first introduced. The lack of nonverbal cues implies automatically that not all information is fully transferred. The messages typically conveyed by these cues are absent in a text-based environment, which implies that for the interpretation of messages online we have to rely exclusively on verbal information. This may have consequences for the decoding of others’ emotions because we cannot make use of nonverbal cues in the interpretation of incoming messages. In addition, the lack of nonverbal cues also has consequences for the expression of our own emotions since every emotion has to be verbalized and part of the nonverbal expression happens unconsciously. The strictly task-oriented messages should not suffer that much from these consequences. But even in a work setting many messages contain both social and task-oriented components, and are ambiguous in a sense. One of the functions of nonverbal cues in F2F communication is that the ambiguity of a message is reduced. The same verbal messages can portray different signals depending on tone, emphasis, and emotional expression.

Egocentrism as a source of Miscommunication

The fact that the “how things are said part” is missing in regular e-mail communication, is not without consequences. In fact, this is likely to be a fertile ground for miscommunication and in particular not noticing that miscommunication. Humor and sarcasm, for example, is difficult to properly communicate by e-mail. The misunderstanding is usually that the sender thinks (s)he has sent a clear message, and the receiver does not interpret the message in the way the sender intended it. This can lead to awkward situations. Miscommunication can be a source of stress because an employee has to take action to correct the message which automatically implies that extra time and attention is needed to handle the message again. Additionally, an employee needs to engage in damage control in maintaining a good relationship with the “victim” of the miscommunication since the main part of e-mail communication is devoted to long-term relations (colleagues, customers). There are indications that egocentrism is an important source in miscommunication.

Feedback

Another type of ambiguous communication in a task-oriented setting is the exchange of feedback messages. Since e-mail is proven to be very practical in the exchange of documents it has also become more common to deliver feedback on these documents by e-mail. Feedback messages can be considered ambiguous because they have an objective, critical component, but also a motivational component in the form of constructive feedback. In organizations, feedback is considered as a first step to improvement and personal development. This makes it an important resource fuelling our motivation at work. However, if information is likely to be negative, media choice can be crucial in delivering the feedback. In our western society it is not done to send negative personal feedback by e-mail.

WAYS SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGE

It is hard to know sometimes how our life has changed until we stop for a moment and look at how different it is from ten or even five years ago. In recent years social media, likely more than anything else, has significantly impacted most of our daily lives. Envisioning the global conversation that has developed over the past few years because of tools like Facebook and Twitter might have been unimaginable for most people at the beginning of this decade.

But social media communication tools have profoundly changed our lives and how we interact with one another and the world around us. Here are the top areas that social media has affected in our daily lives.

1. Where We Get Our News

If you're like me, each morning before checking Yahoo! or Google News or an online newspaper site like USA Today or CNN, you first look at the stories your friends and people that you follow are sharing via Twitter or Facebook. After all, you didn't choose the editors at newspapers and other publications, but you did choose the people and groups that you follow on Twitter, Facebook, or other social networks.

Friends on social media are increasingly becoming people’s trusted sources of information, even more than search engines. Tech blogger Mark Cuban recently noted, "For the 1st time ever, more people are finding my blog from Twitter and Facebook referrals than via Google.”

Of course, many people still use RSS feeds to stay up-to-date on blogs and publications of interest, but our list of sources for what is worthy of our attention has expanded significantly. Furthermore, by getting our news from social media, we know who is recommending it, and can easily communicate with that person about it. News is more social than ever.

2. How We Start and Do Business

It is easier than ever to start and launch a business today, in great part thanks to social media. We can not only locate potential collaborators and employees through interest-focused Facebook groups, Twitter searches, and niche social networks, but perhaps more importantly, social media gives people who have time, but little money for advertising, the chance to engage with others and promote their business. A recent article in the New York Times concluded, "For many mom-and-pop shops with no ad budget, Twitter has become their sole means of marketing."

While business in the past was generally conducted with those in one’s immediate environment, social media, including everything from blogging to tweeting to posting videos on YouTube, has opened new possibilities for both customers and clients. Who we do business with and how we promote that business has moved increasingly online, and for small business especially, social media has proved valuable.

3. How We Meet and Stay in Touch with People

People certainly still meet others at social venues like clubs and parties, but it is easier than ever to discover people who share our interests through social media, whether that means via groups on Facebook or following people on Twitter. Even if your interests lie in an obscure area, like 15th century poetry in France or Nepalese art, there is probably a Facebook group about it, and a Twitter search will likely turn up other people talking about the same subject.

Of course, there is only so much communication that can happen through a social network, but via Tweetups and other in-person events, people are expanding these online interactions to face-to-face meetings. The introductions are initially made through social networks, then people develop the relationship using phone calls and in-person meetings.

Studies reveal that our time on social networks has nearly tripled in the last year, and while Facebook has always primarily centered around connecting with people and staying in touch with friends, according to a study on eMarketer, “41.6% percent of Internet users who used Twitter did so to keep in touch with their friends.”

In other words, social media is increasingly being used to find and maintain both old and potentially new friendships.

4. What We Reveal

The old paradigm in communication was that people generally revealed very little of their fears and doubts. They tried to present the image of themselves to other people as completely confident and knowledgeable. The goal was to make sure that you appeared like you were always in complete control. But this is shifting, in part, because of social media. The paradigm is now no longer to try to appear perfect, but to be more transparent with your thoughts and feelings, to reveal your humanness.

We now have queens acknowledging that they get nervous at times when speaking, CEOs being more honest and at times using blogs to express reservations over past decisions, and people openly sharing personal views on social issues. Of course, what we decide to reveal and when to reveal it can be delicate, and there will always likely be items we wish to keep private. However, rather than working to hide our thoughts and feelings, social media is helping to create greater personal transparency.

5. What We Can Influence

It used to be a big deal that Oprah had over 20 million people watch her show every week or that the New York Times was read by millions of people, and while these large media outlets still control much of our attention, now with social media, power is increasingly more widespread. So-called mainstream media is no longer always the driving influencer of public opinion.

On Twitter, some individuals now have a million or more followers, Facebook Pages can also have hundreds of thousands of fans, and YouTube videos can get millions of views when they go viral. Most of this content is coming from regular people, rather than big, corporate-owned media organizations. For example, people like occasional Mashable guest writer Brandon Mendelson, who has over 950,000 followers on Twitter, have used social media to increase their influence beyond what was possible for "regular people" in the past.

Even if we have few followers on Twitter or friends on Facebook or subscribers to our blog, the average person’s influence is increasing as communication channels become more open and fluid. As the networks for sharing and amplifying information strengthen, the ability of each person to influence public opinion and policies increases. As a result, we feel much less like passive bystanders and much more like participants who have a voice in the events in our world.
BY PROTAS LEVINA   BAPRM 42657

Challenges in internet communication
kidendei Segereti

Nonverbal cues

When e-mail first was introduced, people thought it was impossible to have other interactions than the exchange of short task-oriented messages. Remarkably, the same opinion existed when the telephone was first introduced. The lack of nonverbal cues implies automatically that not all information is fully transferred. The messages typically conveyed by these cues are absent in a text-based environment, which implies that for the interpretation of messages online we have to rely exclusively on verbal information. This may have consequences for the decoding of others’ emotions because we cannot make use of nonverbal cues in the interpretation of incoming messages. In addition, the lack of nonverbal cues also has consequences for the expression of our own emotions since every emotion has to be verbalized and part of the nonverbal expression happens unconsciously. The strictly task-oriented messages should not suffer that much from these consequences. But even in a work setting many messages contain both social and task-oriented components, and are ambiguous in a sense. One of the functions of nonverbal cues in F2F communication is that the ambiguity of a message is reduced. The same verbal messages can portray different signals depending on tone, emphasis, and emotional expression.

Egocentrism as a source of Miscommunication

The fact that the “how things are said part” is missing in regular e-mail communication, is not without consequences. In fact, this is likely to be a fertile ground for miscommunication and in particular not noticing that miscommunication. Humor and sarcasm, for example, is difficult to properly communicate by e-mail. The misunderstanding is usually that the sender thinks (s)he has sent a clear message, and the receiver does not interpret the message in the way the sender intended it. This can lead to awkward situations. Miscommunication can be a source of stress because an employee has to take action to correct the message which automatically implies that extra time and attention is needed to handle the message again. Additionally, an employee needs to engage in damage control in maintaining a good relationship with the “victim” of the miscommunication since the main part of e-mail communication is devoted to long-term relations (colleagues, customers). There are indications that egocentrism is an important source in miscommunication.

Feedback

Another type of ambiguous communication in a task-oriented setting is the exchange of feedback messages. Since e-mail is proven to be very practical in the exchange of documents it has also become more common to deliver feedback on these documents by e-mail. Feedback messages can be considered ambiguous because they have an objective, critical component, but also a motivational component in the form of constructive feedback. In organizations, feedback is considered as a first step to improvement and personal development. This makes it an important resource fuelling our motivation at work. However, if information is likely to be negative, media choice can be crucial in delivering the feedback. In our western society it is not done to send negative personal feedback by e-mail. 

EFFECTIVE CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Communication is about more than just exchanging information. It's about understanding the emotion and intentions behind the information. Effective communication is also a two-way street. It’s not only how you convey a message so that it is received and understood by someone in exactly the way you intended, it’s also how you listen to gain the full meaning of what’s being said and to make the other person feel heard and understood.

More than just the words you use, effective communication combines a set of skills including nonverbal communication, engaged listening, managing stress in the moment, the ability to communicate assertively, and the capacity to recognize and understand your own emotions and those of the person you’re communicating with.

Effective communication is the glue that helps you deepen your connections to others and improve teamwork, decision making, and problem solving. It enables you to communicate even negative or difficult messages without creating conflict or destroying trust.

While effective communication is a learned skill, it is more effective when it’s spontaneous rather than formulaic. A speech that is read, for example, rarely has the same impact as a speech that’s delivered (or appears to be delivered) spontaneously. Of course, it takes time and effort to develop these skills and become an effective communicator. The more effort and practice you put in, the more instinctive and spontaneous your communication skills will become.

Barriers to effective interpersonal communication

Stress and out-of-control emotion. 

When you’re stressed or emotionally overwhelmed, you’re more likely to misread other people, send confusing or off-putting nonverbal signals, and lapse into unhealthy knee-jerk patterns of behavior. Take a moment to calm down before continuing a conversation.

Lack of focus.

You can’t communicate effectively when you’re multitasking. If you’re planning what you’re going to say next, daydreaming, checking text messages, or thinking about something else, you’re almost certain to miss nonverbal cues in the conversation. You need to stay focused on the moment-to-moment experience.

Inconsistent body language. 

Nonverbal communication should reinforce what is being said, not contradict it. If you say one thing, but your body language says something else, your listener will likely feel you’re being dishonest. For example, you can’t say “yes” while shaking your head no.

Negative body language.

If you disagree with or dislike what’s being said, you may use negative body language to rebuff the other person’s message, such as crossing your arms, avoiding eye contact, or tapping your feet. You don’t have to agree, or even like what’s being said, but to communicate effectively without making the other person defensive, it’s important to avoid sending negative signals.

BY PROTAS LEVINA 

BAPRM 42657

by KIDENDEI CEGERETI

According to Moyer, 2015

In the meantime, corporate leaders can do their part to improve how their companies communicate. Here are five steps to take.

1.Recruit talented, senior-level communications executives with solid business skills and deep knowledge of the company’s products and processes.

According to David Moyer, president of the executive search firm Moyer, Sherwood Associates, Inc., which specializes in corporate communications and PR, the challenges of the role now make it more essential for candidates to hold an MBA.More broadly, companies need to give communications chiefs the titles, reporting relationships, access, and resources to be effective companywide. And that means investing in senior communications roles for the long-term.

Communications professionals like to tout their ability to be quick studies. But it can take years to truly know a company's business, and a communications person without the right level of industry knowledge won't get the respect it takes to do an effective job. Being the perpetual new kid on the block is a strategic liability.

2. Learn to trust and understand the communications function.
Management can’t get away with listening to its communications leaders with half an ear. Companies "need to learn more about communications and the communications consequences of their actions and not treat it like a foreign language," urges Moyer. Otherwise, they'll end up spending too much time mopping up after crises as opposed to preempting them. Not only can that be tremendously expensive, but communication blunders can do real damage to companies' brands.

3. Let communications leaders advise and educate the C-suite. 
If corporations need to listen better to their communications leaders, then the reverse is also true. Communications execs need to help other leaders understand why they're important. "Good communications chiefs recognize that one leg of their job is representing communications to senior management," says Moyer. "They can point to communication wins in that area with the same pride they do to a media relations victory outside. The CFO or the head of engineering doesn’t need to explain their functions the same way. But the communications person needs to do this."Companies shouldn't compound their problems by obfuscating or denying responsibility for problems.

4. Eliminate command-and-control communications.
The best companies are transparent, and when they are wrong, they promptly admit it rather than hide behind 'corporate speak, Clark says. Closing ranks can be dangerous in the digital age, but it's a most common reaction when things go wrong. "Apologize, take responsibility, and do what's necessary to right the wrong. Companies shouldn't compound their problems by obfuscating or denying responsibility for problems; that simply drags out the story and ensures it'll be at the top of news headlines and Twitter feeds for days and weeks to come."

5. Let employees be ambassadors, Clark advises. 
Don’t gag them on social media. "Smart, far-sighted companies recognize that if employees are using social media anyway, you might as well tap that power," she says. "Give them information about the company's vision, goals, and what it's doing, and allow them to spread that positive message online. They'll have far more credibility among their friends and contacts that your official brand page ever could.

The new economy

 is the result of the transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy. This particular use of the term was popular during the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. The high growth, low inflation and high employment of this period led to overly optimistic predictions and many flawed business plans.

A 1983 cover article in Time magazine, "The New Economy", described the transition from heavy industry to a new technology based economy. By 1997 Newsweek was referring to the "new economy" in many of its articles.

After a nearly 25-year period of unprecedented growth, the United States experienced a much discussed economic slowdown beginning in 1972. However, around 1995, U.S. economic growth accelerated, driven by faster productivity growth. From 1972 to 1995, the growth rate of output per hour, a measure of labor productivity, had only averaged around one-percent per year. But by the mid 1990s, growth became much faster: 2.65 percent from 1995–99. America also experienced increased employment and decreasing inflation. The economist Robert J. Gordon referred to this as a Goldilocks economy-the result of five positive "shocks" – "the two traditional shocks (food-energy and imports) and the three new shocks (computers, medical care, and measurement)"

Other economists pointed to the ripening benefits of the computer age, being realized after a delay much like that associated to the delayed benefits of electricity shortly after the turn of the twentieth century. Gordon contended in 2000, that the benefits of computers were marginal or even negative for the majority of firms, with their benefits being consolidated in the computer hardware and durable goods manufacturing sectors, which only represent a relatively small segment of the economy. His method relied on applying considerably sized gains in the business cycle to explain aggregate productivity growth.

According to another point of view, the "new economy" is a current Kondratiev wave which will end after a 50-year period in the 2040s. Its innovative basis includes Internet,nanotechnologies, telematics and bionics.

Dot-coms

In the financial markets, the term has been associated with the Dot-com bubble. This included the emergence of the NASDAQ as a rival to the New York Stock Exchange, a high rate of IPOs, the rise of Dot-com stocks over established firms, and the prevalent use of such tools as stock options. In the wider economy the term has been associated with practices such as outsourcing, business process outsourcing and business process re-engineering.

At the same time, there was a lot of investment in the companies of the technology sector. Stock shares rose dramatically. A lot of start-ups were created and the stock value was very high where floated. Newspapers and business leaders were starting to talk of new business models. Some even claimed that the old laws of economics did not apply anymore and that new laws had taken their place. They also claimed that the improvements in computer hardware and software would dramatically change the future, and that information is the most important value in the new economy.

Some, such as Joseph Stiglitz and Blake Belding, have suggested that a lot of investment in information technology, especially in software and unused fibre optics, was useless. However, this may be too harsh a judgment, given that U.S. investment in information technology has remained relatively strong since 2002. While there may have been some overinvestment, productivity research shows that much of the investment has been useful in raising output.

The recession of 2001, disproved many of the more extreme predictions made during the boom years, and gave credence to Gordon's minimization of computers' contributions. However, subsequent research. strongly suggests that productivity growth has been stimulated by heavy investment in information and communication technology. Furthermore, strong productivity growth after the 2001 recession makes it likely that many of the gains of the late 1990s may endure.

By Wilbrod Regina

BAPRM 42683

Types of virtual communities

Internet message boards

An online message board is a forum where people can discuss thoughts or ideas on various topics. Online message centers allow users to choose which thread, or board of discussion, users would like to read or contribute to. A user will start a discussion by making a post on a thread. Other users who choose to respond can follow the discussion by adding their own post to that thread. Message boards are not conversation based because user responses do not have to take place right away. Whenever the user revisits the message board, he/she can make a response. Unlike a conversation, message boards do not have an instantaneous response and require that users actively go to the site to check for responses.

Anyone can register to participate in an online message board. A message board is unique because people can choose to participate and be a part of the virtual community, even if they choose not to contribute their thoughts and ideas. Registered users can simply view the various threads or contribute if they choose to. Message boards can also accommodate an almost infinite number of users, while the number of users who can be accommodated by a single chat room is limited at least in practice.

Internet users' urges to talk to and reach out to strangers online opposes real-life encounters where people are hesitant and often unwilling to step in to help strangers. Studies have shown that people are more likely to intervene if they are the only one in the situation. With Internet message boards, a user sitting at his or her computer is the only one present in their online experience, which might have to do with why they are more willing to reach out. Another possible reason for this is that people can withdraw from a situation much easier online. They can simply click exit or log off, whereas they would have to find a physical exit and deal with the repercussions of trying to leave a situation in real life. The lack of status that is presented with an online identity also might encourage people because if you choose to keep it private, there is no label of gender, age, ethnicity or lifestyle associated with yourself.

Online chat rooms

Shortly after the rise of interest in message boards and forums, people started to want a way of communicating with their "communities" in real time. The downside to message boards was that people would have to wait until another user replied to their posting, which, with people all around the world in different time frames, could take a while. The development of online chat rooms allowed people to talk to whoever was online at the same time they were. This way, messages were sent and online users could immediately respond.

The original development by CompuServe CB hosted forty channels in which users could talk to one another in real time. The idea of forty different channels led to the idea of chat rooms that were specific to different topics. Users could choose to join an already existent chat room they found interesting, or start a new "room" if they found nothing to their liking. Real-time chatting was also brought into virtual games, where people could play against one another and also talk to one another through text. Now, chat rooms can be found on all sorts of topics, so that people can talk with others who share similar interests. Chat rooms are now provided by Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and other individual websites such as Yahoo, MSN, and AOL.

Chat room users communicate through text-based messaging. Most chat room providers are similar and include an input box, a message window, and a participant list. The input box is where users can type their text-based message to be sent to the providing server. The server will then transmit the message to the computers of anyone in the chat room so that it can be displayed in the message window. The message window allows the conversation to be tracked and usually places a time stamp once the message is posted. There is usually a list of the users who are currently in the room, so that people can see who is in their virtual community.

By Kyeju Diana

BAPRM 42589