Evolution of Communication Technologies

New technologies have always played a role in communicating with internal and external stakeholders, but recent developments are changing the way information is delivered and shared. Following are 4 new technologies that are altering the manner in which a communicator can share information:

RSS Feeds

RSS is an acronym that literally means “Really Simple Syndication.” It is the best method of quickly creating, sharing and finding information on the Internet or internal networks within an organization. RSS lets users know when new information is updated on a blog, wiki or Web site and can even deliver the new content directly to their computer.

Before RSS, a user had to go to a Web site each time they wanted to look for new information. With RSS though, users can set up a feed to have new information disseminated directly to their computer. There are many implications for communicators, but sharing corporate information with employees seems to be the most obvious. Users can have quarterly information show up on their computer instead of reading an email or visiting the corporate intranet.

Blogs

A blog is a Web site that allows any individual to post content – typically to share their thoughts and opinions on any subject that is of interest to that person. Blogs were originally viewed as online diaries, but have turned in to a powerful method of communicating over the last two years.

Anyone can post comments on a blog without additional software or applications. You just type your thoughts and voila, they are instantly published on the site. Some moderators prefer to have comments screened before they are posted, but others allow anyone to post comments with no formal screening process. For corporate communicators, it may make sense to have a formal process to ensure that the blog does not contain any negative feedback from users.

Wikis

Wiki is another form of posting information on the Internet without using additional applications or software. Anyone can create and edit content using only a Web browser.

Wikis are a good resource as a collaborative working tool for employees. Instead of emailing documents around to be edited in Microsoft tracker, a Wiki can be set up and used internally. As the distribution list gets longer, tracking changes in Word can become cumbersome and difficult to manage with all the input. The Wiki allows work group to edit directly in the document on the Web site, with no emails, or threat of different versions floating around. Each user typically has a unique user ID and log in password to ensure that the desired subset of users is the only one making edits.

Social Networking Sites

Social networks, similar to www.facebook.com or www.myspace.com provide a means of communication among subscribers. The site can be password protected and it allows users to share information with each other in an informal method.

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