Social Media - Why? V

Technology is changing!
               
Basic communication is changing rapidly.
 
We are in the midst of a communications revolution and unless we make the time and take the effort to understand how this revolution will effect each and every one of us our re-learning curve will be very steep and our current effectiveness will be so diminished as to make us virtually mute.

So what ways are increasingly the less effective ways of communicating?
Face-to-face meetings,
Telephone conversations,
E-mails,
Voice mails

When you look at this list, a fair reaction might be ‘no way’ (Very Gen Y) but if you accept this list (and the data seems to back it up) then the next obvious statement might be “what the dickens is left?”

To get an insight into how these radical communication changes are affecting the workplace you should take a look at the article produced by DiversityInc I haven’t reproduced it here but it’s well worth a click of your mouse. 

The upshot is that for the first time in our shared history we have four different generations working side by side in the workplace bringing their varying values, goals and preferred methods of communication to bear on the workplace. With any group who have different needs this can often lead to friction and 'mis-communication' resulting in a sub-optimised workplace.

The widespread use of social networks reflects shifts in two long-term communication trends: first, a shift in communications patterns from point-to-point, two-way conversations, to many-to-many, collaborative communications; and, second, a transition of control of the communications environment from Telcos to open Internet platform providers.

To engage effectively over the long term, the C-Suite will need to take bold, significant steps to embrace the emerging broader definition of communications. Doing nothing is an option few organisations can afford.