Communications Communication technologies have greatly changed both private and public life as people have become more and more dependent on the use of these technologies in their everyday lives.
Email- Electronic mail is a way of exchanging digital messages from the writer to one or more recipients across the Internet or other pc networks. Email servers accept, forward, deliver, and store messages. The users or their computers are not required to be online at the same time. They only need to connect briefly typically to a mail server, for as long as it takes to send or receive messages.
Instant Messaging- (MSN and Gmail messenger, Facebook messenger)- The user keeps a list of people to interact with. They can IM with anyone on their buddy/contact list as long as that person is online. Messages are typed to each other in a small window that shows up on both of their screens.
Most IM programs provide these features:
Instant messages - Send notes back and forth with a friend who areonline
Chat - Create a chat room with friends or co-workers
Web links - Share links to your favourite Web sites
Video - Send and view videos, and chat face to face with friends
Images - Look at an image stored on your friend's computer
Sounds - Play sounds for your friends
Files - Share files by sending them directly to your friends
Talk - Use the Internet instead of a phone to actually talk with friends
Streaming content - Real-time or near-real-time stock quotes and news
Mobile capabilities - Send instant messages from your cell phone
Video Calling-(Skype and now even Facebook)- Video calling/conferencing allows two or more people to communicate while watching each other via a live 2 way video. The live video can be from a webcam, videophone, videoconferencing or telephony system combined with the correct software.
Social media- Social media is becoming an integral part of life online. They come in many different forms including magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, micro-blogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking.
Technologies include blogging, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-posting, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, voice over IP and many others.
Social network aggregation can integrate many of the platforms in use. Any website that invites you to interact with the site and with other visitors falls into the definition of social media.
There are many different types of social media sites:
Collaborative Projects and Wikis (Wikipedia and Wikia) - Users interact by adding articles and editing existing articles
Blogs and Micro-blogs (Twitter)- Users can write blogs for others to comment and share. users broadcast short posts called “tweets"
Social News Networking Sites (Digg and Reddit)- Users interact by voting for articles and commenting on them.
Content communities, Social Photo and Video Sharing (YouTube, DailyMotion, Instagram and Flickr)-Users interact by sharing photos or videos and commenting on user submissions.
Social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace and Hi5)- Interact by adding friends, commenting on profiles, joining groups and having discussions.
Virtual Game Worlds (World of Warcraft)- gamers create an avatar and interact and complete tasks in th
Virtual Social Worlds (Second Life)- users take the form of avatars that are visible to other users and they interact in a virtual world.
Social Bookmarking and Social Curation Websites (Del.icio.us and Pinterest)- Users interact by tagging websites or images and searching through websites bookmarked by other people.
There are many advantages to these methods of communication from a business prospective- Work can be easily brought home on laptops or accessed by cloud technology. E-mails, I.M and calls/video calls regularly update people about business goings on. Other apps like Skype and Conference Video let people video call and allow business meetings to take place between people around the world. Social networks like Facebook make it simple to update and keep in touch with family and friends even on the other side of the world. You can share links, video, photo, sound and messages instantly. These technologies also mean that business contacts are more accessible and companies can promote and reach existing and potential customers globally easily.
Online shopping on websites and stores (eBay, amazon or boohoo.com) is very popular as people can now shop comfortably from home, on a lunch break at work and even from their mobile on a bus. From a business’ point of view they are available to shoppers 24/7 and can promote through social media pages such as Facebook, where they can also receive customers feedback. Companies are advertising their products in more creative ways that can help promote sales, but bloggers reviews or customer feedback means that people can read the truth about products and aren’t just looking at the company’s promoted material. Here are some popular examples of social media in more detail: Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues.
Twitter is a free micro-blogging service that allows registered members to broadcast short posts called tweets. Twitter members can broadcast tweets and follow other users' tweets by using multiple platforms and devices.
Wikipedia is a free, open content online encyclopaedia created through the collaborative effort of a community of users known as Wikipedians. Anyone registered on the site can create an article for publication; registration is not required to edit articles.
LinkedIn is a social networking site designed specifically for the business community. The goal of the site is to allow registered members to establish and document networks of people they know and trust professionally.
Reddit is a social news website and forum where stories are socially curated and promoted by site members. The site is composed of hundreds of sub-communities, known as "subreddits." Each subreddit has a specific topic such as technology, politics or music. Reddit site members, also known as, "redditors," submit content which is then voted upon by other members. The goal is to send well-regarded stories to the top of the site's main thread page.
Pinterest is a social curation website for sharing and categorizing images found online. Pinterest requires brief descriptions but the main focus of the site is visual. Clicking on an image will take you to the original source e.g if you click on a picture of a pair of shoes, you might be taken to a site where you can purchase them.
Here's some useful links to create your own social network accounts: