Types Of
Modern Communication
Communication is key to building relationships, and modern forms of communication allows us
to stay in touch with friends and family from anywhere in the world.
Today, modern technology dominates our communication. We have a massive range of ways in
which we can stay connected, but each channel of communication can influence our relationships
in a different way.
Here are 10 modern communication tools to help you stay in connect with your audience:
Social
Media
Social media has been around since the early days of the internet and it still dominates most of
our lives. The long list of social networks continues to grow and each one is continuing to drive
millions (and even billions) of users to their sites everyday which is why it is one of the most
popular forms of communication.
Social media may be all about brand awareness, but it is also a great channel for communication
as it enables you to post open messages for everyone to see, as well as engage with users through
comments.
Whatever you use it for, it’s a great first step for communication. Your messages aren’t limited
to your followers either, through the power of hashtags, shares, likes, retweets, hearts and other
reaction your posts have no limit to the audience it can reach. We’ve all witnessed the power of
posts going viral.
Social Media –
Direct Message (DM)
Social media doesn’t necessarily need to be completely public. Almost every social media
channel offers a direct messaging option, some of those messaging services even have their own
messaging app such as Facebook Messenger.
Private messaging through social networks has the same intimacy as email but tends to be less
formal.
Businesses should only contact someone through Direct Message if the customer has reached out
to them through that channel. However, certain direct messaging techniques are becoming a little
more acceptable on some social networks such as Facebook. Facebook Messenger Bots are now
seen as the norm and can help you to connect with your audience through Facebooks messaging
service.
Instant
Message (IM)
While some forms on Instant Message falls under social media like Facebook Messenger, there
are a wide range of Instant Messaging platforms that aren’t connected to social networks such as
Google Hangouts and WhatsApp.
IM is a great tool for quick informal chats or group chats.
SMS
Text Messaging
We are all aware of the uses of text messaging. They are short, generally informal and are a good
way to communicate small bits of information that can be received and replied to at the
recipient’s own leisure.
These days we are almost always within arm’s reach of a mobile device, so it isn’t a surprise that
more people are using their smartphones more than computers to search, research and
communicate than ever before, making it the perfect platform to engage with your audience.
Email
Marketing
The first mass email was sent back in 1978 and even back then it was highly successful.
However, today it is one of the most underestimated marketing platforms around, despite being
one of the most beneficial in terms of return on investment.
Email marketing can be used for many different purposes, including to push products and
services, spread news, raise brand awareness or to deliver a message to the masses.
Over the years, most businesses would have accumulated a great deal of email address and in
many cases, they would go to waste. With email marketing those email addresses will enable you
to reconnect with old clients as well as connect with new potential clients.
Direct Email
Email is similar to direct messaging through social networks, but it is generally more formal. It is
the most popular way of communicating between businesses with over 200 billion emails being
sent every day.
Blogging
A blog is a conversational styled website that enables you to publish messages, news, knowledge
or any other kind of information on the world wide web for everyone to see.
Most blogs include a comments section in which you can engage with those likeminded people
that are interested in your blog post. This is why it is a great platform for communication.
Voice Calling
Voice calling is even more personalised than the channels previously mentioned. The telephone
or mobile phone instantly allows both parties to hear the tones and emotions of the other caller
and is one of the most commonly used communication tools.
Video
Chat
Video chat enables both parties to see each other, allowing you to be able to read body language
and facial expressions. This form of communication isn’t as popular as the voice calling but it
does have its advantages.
With several video-calling apps available for free such as Apple’s FaceTime, Facebook
messenger, Skype and WhatsApp, video calls are definitely worth considering.
Video Marketing
Video has really taken off over the last few years with the help of social channels like YouTube,
Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. It also helps that it is easier than ever to record videos with
smartphones and cameras always handily available.
It’s important that you get your message across in a variety of formats and video is one of the
most popular ways in which you can do so as it significantly boosts engagement.
Live
Web Chat
You are likely to have seen a lot of these on websites already and they can be very helpful if you
are able to manage them correctly. Live web chats allow people on your website to ask you
questions directly in real time without leaving your website.
You should only consider using live web chat if you can guarantee someone will always be
actively using the widget. If it takes more than a few seconds to respond to someone via web
chat it will reflect poorly on your business so it’s best to avoid these widgets if you can’t
maintain the demand.
Virtual
Reality
The video above shows us the potential virtual reality can have for communication. Facebook
has been developing social VR for several years now and although it isn’t a common way of
communication yet, it has a lot of potential.
As virtual reality advances and prices for the headsets fall, VR popularity will inevitably
increase. With more and more people buying VR headsets this could be the next modern form of
communication to hit the masses and it may only be a few years away.
Getting in contact with people has never been easier with the long list of ways in which we can
stay connected right at our finger tips.
These devices can be used from just about anywhere at any time to get in touch with your
audience.
Here are the most common devices used for modern communication:
Smartphones
The world saw the first handheld mobile phone back in 1973 but it wasn’t until the early 1980’s
that they were more widely available. Motorola developed the first handheld device which
weighed over a kilogram and was roughly the size of a brick. It also only offered 30 minutes talk
time and took 10 hours to re-charge.
Today, there are almost 2.5 billion smartphone users. These devices have a range of ways in
which you can communicate such as text, voice call, video call and email. They also enable you
to gain access to the internet, as well as various other tools such as cameras, video recorders and
a multitude of apps.
Smartphone growth is still on the up with millions of devices being sold every year. With so
many people with these handsets at their fingertips, it is no surprise that mobile search has now
surpassed desktop.
Tablets
The first tablets began to appear in the 1980’s but it wasn’t really until the first iPad was released
in 2010 that tablets really became mainstream. The iPad sold over 100 million units between
2010 and 2012 but Apple’s market share dropped the following year due to the arrival of
Android tablets.
Tablets have a similar functionality to a smartphone but on a larger scale.
Laptops
A laptop is a portable computer that comes in a wide range of different sizes. These days, they
pretty much have the same functionality as desktop computers but with the added bonus of being
able to carry them around with you.
Laptops enables you to use various communication tools (as long as you have internet access)
such as social media, email and video chat (if it has a webcam).
Virtual Assistants
Personal virtual assistant usage is growing at a rapid rate with Google having reported that their
Google Home Assistant has quadrupled in active usage year-on-year since its release in 2016.
Virtual assistants such as Google Assistant, Siri and Alexa are now multifunctional and can send
text messages and emails as well as make phone calls through either your smartphone or smart
speaker such as Amazon Echo or Google Home.
Fax:
Just as the conventional telephone carries voice, a fax or facsimile machine carries printed
messages (words and pictures in photocopy form) from the sender instrument to the receiver
instrument.
The sender of a fax message prepares the copy on a sheet (generally no larger than A4 size)
which can be fed into the fax machine. He dials the destination number, gets the fax tone and
feeds the message into the machine.
The printed message is converted into electronic signals as the paper rolls through the fax
machine. This message is received in the same form at the other end on the paper roll that is
attached to the machine.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Fax machines may have these additional features:
(A) Remote activation:
The owner may use a remote control device to operate the machine.
Despite power failure:
(B) The fax machine may be made to function even during a power failure.
(C) Memory:
The message sent may be retained in the memory of the machine. At the receiving end, in the
absence of paper, the message may be recorded in the machine for developing a printout
afterwards.
(D) Answering machine:
At the receiving end, there need not be an operator to receive incoming messages. They are
automatically received.
Advantages:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(A) Fax enables an accurate transmission of a document including pictures and handwriting.
Colour faxes are also a possibility.
(B) Fax can be sent through a computer, in which case it is restricted to the messages created on
the computer.
(C) A fax message can be confirmed on telephone to ensure its authenticity.
(D) Faxes are admissible as proof in the court. In this respect they are superior to email.
(E) With repeat dialling facility, a busy number can be reached as soon as it becomes free.
Disadvantages:
(a) It is expensive compared to email and post.
(b) Sometimes the reception is blurred due to channel defects or mechanical failure at either end.
(c) At the sender’s or the receiver’s end, the document to wrong people may be exposed. Hence
it is often difficult to maintain secrecy in sending and receiving a fax message.
(d) At the receiving end, the message is printed at the receiver’s cost. In case unwanted messages
pour in, the receiver has to bear the cost.
Specimen fax messages:
There are new conventions about drafting and laying out a fax message. There is a tendency to
minimize the vertical space of the letter.
If a business letter is to be sent by fax, it is formatted in one of the following way:
Specimen fax no. 1:
ABC Corporation:
1, M.G. Road, Nagpur
Fax Message:
To LMN Inc., Mumbai
From Joseph De Cunha
Subject Shortfall in your consignment
Date 4th July 2011
Page/s 1
We would like you to take immediate note of the shortfall in your consignment dated 1st July
2011 to us which was supposed to contain 40 stainless steel basins but contains only 30. We trust
you will check up with your despatch section and make good the shortfall at the earliest. Please
confirm by fax.
Joseph De Cunha
Purchase Manager
Specimen fax no. 2
Apex Importers-Exporters:
1244 Dock Yard Street, Mumbai.
Fax Message:
To Kiran Jhaver Inc. From Raj Desai
Fax No. AIE/233 Subject Extension of L/C
Date 30 June 2011 Pages 2, including this one
As requested by you, we have arranged to extend the L/C dated 1 January 2011, which was due
for expiry on 30th June, to 31st July 2011. A copy of it is being sent alongside. We hope you will
take advantage of this and ship the garments within this date. In the event you are unable to do
so, we will be constrained to cancel the order. Please stay in touch and advise the progress in
shipping the order.
Raj Desai
Dy. Managing Director
Internet and e-mail:
Internet is an international computer network that links computers from sectors such as
government agencies, business houses, educational institutions and individuals. It receives
information, stores it and allows it to be read on satisfying certain conditions.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) allow one to create the e-mail ID free, hoping to recover the
cost through the ads to which the user is exposed during the use of email. A typical email address
reads abcdef@xyz.com. Some other ISPs are bsnl, yahoo, hotmail, and Gmail.
Note the use of only lower case (small) alphabets email in IDs.
Every time the user wants to send messages or check the incoming mail, he can reach his ID by
typing a password which makes the mail account private. However, once you have submitted to
the mechanism of email you do not know who might read this “private” information far away.
As such email does not guarantee 100% secrecy.
Advantages:
(a) Email is by far the cheapest and fastest means of sending printed information (verbal as well
as non-verbal). At one click of the button, hundreds of pages of information can be sent to
hundreds of email addresses worldwide (to be noted by receivers upon checking the incoming
mail or inbox).
(b) No paper is required. Messages can be created directly on the computer, and added on from
different computer files, CDs, floppies, etc.
(c) This facility is now available in many regional languages of India.
(d) It is informal and allows the sender to remain anonymous (since he can use any name as his
email ID. For instance J.K. Singh can use udankhatola as his email name).
(e) Organizations and publishing houses take cognizance of messages coming via email.
Newspapers and magazines print letters that come via email.
(f) As long as you carry your password with you, you can open your email account on any
computer in the world which has this facility. You remain unencumbered even with a mobile
handset. You can just enter an internet cafe, pay the rent and use the email. Email is
extraordinarily portable.
(g) You can have an address book in your email account, record the incoming mails, and edit
them and so on.
(h) When you reply to an email message, the sender’s message is automatically sent back to him
for ready reference.
(i) As human need and imagination guide, more innovations are possible.
(j) Email can enable an ongoing electronic conference. People across the world can “meet” on
internet and confer on a topic of common interest.
(k) The receiver need not respond at once as on the telephone but can take his time. Emailing
helps to avoid a direct interface.
(l) In an organisation, a subordinate may quickly and directly reach a superior on email. Email
makes an organisation more democratic (as individuals have more chance of being heard by the
proper person even if he is several levels higher).
Disadvantage:
(i) Email, because of the potential anonymity, remains an informal channel of communication.
(ii) Excess use and flooding of unwanted messages (especially from advertisers) is a major
drawback of this system. Unless one takes care to block unwanted ads, one finds one’s inbox full
of offers which maybe doubtful and insincere. Wading through chunks of email is one of the
biggest problems for those who depend on email for their communication needs.
(iii) One may not be private while using the computer for emailing. To that extent the secrecy is
lost.
(iv) In case the receiver is unable to open his email account as soon as a message is received, the
message cannot work for him.
Guidelines for the use of email:
Email is a new and peculiar means of communication, bringing in its own conventions:
(1) Your email message may be read by more persons than intended. So you have to take care.
(2) At email message must have all the elements of good composition such as brevity, clarity,
courtesy.
(3) You may use the spell-check mechanism of the computer to ensure correct spelling.
(4) The email format on the computer provides for sending and mentioning cc (carbon copy) and
subject line. These may be written for the receiver’s convenience.
(5) If a single email contains messages for various sections of an organisation, they may be
separated at the composing stage.
(6) You should not use all capitals in writing a message as this looks awkward and rude.
(7) When responding to a message, only the essential part of it may be quoted and the rest
deleted.
(8) You may create the message in a different programme (such as WordPad or notepad) and
transfer it to your email.
(9) If you proofread on the computer screen, be extra careful.
It may be noted that the date and time of transmitting the message and the sender’s email ID are
automatically conveyed on email. Still it is customary to write your email address in the body of
the email message.
Email ID is given in the body of the message especially when you invite a response at a different
ID. If there is a time lag between composing a message and sending it, for whatever reason, then
the date of composing may be written.
Videoconferencing and Teleconferencing:
This mode of communication begins in teleconferencing. A number of telephones are
simultaneously connected to one another. Teleconferencing is a facility enabling people in
different parts of the world to have an audio meeting (as opposed to dialogue), saving on transit
time and hotel stay. It helps in thrashing out a variety of opinions on a subject to reach a faster
conclusion.
A further advance in this technology is computer teleconferencing. The participants can react to
the messages and inputs for the others’ knowledge. They may not even be present
simultaneously for the computer teleconference but add their contribution at their convenience.
Videoconferencing, however, is the closest it gets to seeing and hearing one another without
being present together. The technologies used in a videoconference are: monitor screen, camera,
microphone, codec (compressor-decompress or), equipment control pad at each location, and
internet connectivity. With the passage of time, this is becoming more popular and easier to use.
You often see it in TV interviews.
You often see it in TV interviews. For a videoconference, the participants get into a special room
at their respective locations, equipped with the gadgetry. They can see, hear, speak to others and
show exhibits without physical presence together.
The entire proceedings can be recorded on video tapes. As someone has jocularly put it, except
for the snacks and coffee, everything else is transmissible in a videoconference. At present, the
privilege of the richer business houses, videoconferences are set to gain wider popularity.
Video classrooms are another possibility in this field, where an expert faculty member may teach
a number of classes in a number of towns simultaneously and answer the participants’ queries.
