There are a vast amount of online communication methods in the day and age. One of the most popular communication methods is email, on average there are 160 billion email messages sent per day. Furthermore technology has resulted in new ways of online communication. Skype has become one of the most well-liked forms of online chat nowadays. Skype is a software application that allows you to make a video and voice call over the internet to another user online, however it also has additional features including instant messaging and file transfers. Skype was released in august 2003 and to date has over 25 million users. The creation of instant messaging has formed many online websites that allow users to chat in real time. Users can send text messages to anyone online and receive instant replies if the user is also online. Blogs are also a huge element to online communication. A blog can be described as an online journal and daily diary. Some blogs are interactive, allowing users to respond and comment on posts. Technology has also enabled us to use instant messaging on our phones for example blackberry’s have a feature called “bbm” which stands for blackberry messaging which is a instant way for blackberry users to communicate. The biggest change in online communication is social networking sites. Social networking sites like facebook are nationwide. These sites have changed the means of online communication. Forums are also a key aspect of online communication a form is an online discussion group.
· Mobile phones: there are now a wide range of brands of phones that allow us to access the internet. Furthermore these smart phones have additional features that allow us to communicate through instant messaging. Skype can be accessed through your iphone.
· Phones with built in 3g enable to use to surf the internet quickly and online communication is easier and quicker. However even with built in 3g surfing the internet in areas where the signal strength is low makes the internet slow to load and hard to access sites.
· Email: In this day and age email is without a doubt the greatest creations of online communication.Emails are fast and easy to use. Emails in some ways have replaced letters nowadays its more common for someone to send an email rather than a letter. However 160 billion emails are sent a day, 97% are spam. So email does have its pros and cons but with the touch of a button all the spam can be deleted, in addition some email websites can block spam from being sent to their address. Never the less if spam is clicked on than this can result to viruses on the computer which can cause signification problems to your hard drive. With the conception of email this has helped our society and the way we live, emails can be sent from space, the first email was sent from space on august 26th 1991. In addition emails are an easy way of communicating within a organisation, emails can be sent to more than one person which is good for businesses. Personally I feel that group emails are great because it saves times and is easily accessed.
· Blogs: Is an online journal or diary, there are a variety of blogs, interactive blogs and topic specific blogs. Interactive blogs are blogs that allow users to respond and comment on posts. Whereas a topic specific blog is blogs that provide relevant and interesting content on a daily basis can be a challenge. The idea of a blog is getting your point across. A big impact on blogs not being very popular is down to having to be constantly updated which some users don’t like. I personally don’t feel very strongly on blogs, I believe that blogs are time consuming and if you’re trying to get your point across I feel that there are better forms of communication to use e.g. forums. However blogs have impacted on businesses, brands are looking at blogs to see what the customers think about their products and using this to help them improve their products. In addition Blogs can be a positive way of getting feedback.
· Forums/newsgroups: is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived. The forums give you a chance to establish your expertise in your subject. Furthermore these sites have been set up so you can gain educational information, and discuss the issues of society. I believe forums are a good means of online communication because it’s beneficial as well as fun because you learn from forums, whereas a social networking site is more a communal way of communicating.
· Social networking: without a doubt social networking is a huge portion of online communication, its apart of everyone’s daily lifestyle. In addition its become more of a means of communication. For example on facebook groups have been set up so people can access information about the group via facebook. Facebook is probably one of the biggest hits of online communication. Facebook grows at over 10 million users a month and sits currently at number two on web traffic rankings according to Alexa.com. 1 in every 13 people on Earth is on Facebook. This fact shows how popular facebook has become. I personally believe that facebook is a great creation and has impacted enormously on online communication more websites are being set up like facebook for example twitter, even though I personally don’t use twitter from what people say twitter is beneficial and a great way of communicating.
· Instant messaging: is a form of real time direct text. It can be done using anything from a computer to a blackberry. Blackberry’s instant messaging is “bbm” and is a hit for blackberry users. However instant messaging does have its downfalls. Viruses can be sent via messages and can be hard to notice. Also for bbm it’s very hard to track and the latest London riots communication was done from the looters via bbm. Although instant messaging is a lot safer environment than chat rooms.
- Online conferencing: is basically summed up as a conference done online via webcam, this means it’s cheaper and easier. However can be hard if the signal strength is bad you may not be able to understand what is said and may not be as beneficial as face to face conferences. Although typically, more people will actively participate in an online conference than in a face to face conference, and the standard of the discussions is often higher. I personally have not ever experienced a online conference but I think the concept of an online conference is a great idea and will benefit businesses extremely.
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