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Say What? The New Age of Comunication

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Image by Vincent J. Brown via Flickr

Written by Karen D. Swim

In case you had not heard, the United States is in a recession. However, unlike past periods of financial turmoil, consumer behavior is not so easily predicted and has many scratching their heads. What’s different? The method and speed of communications has changed making it difficult f to control or predict consumer behavior.

Kellye Crane points out in her thoughtful discussion on PR that we no longer “control the message.” This applies to all areas of communications. Consumers no longer rely on marketing messages from business or government to stimulate them to buy.  The actions that proved to be successful in the past no longer work in this age of user generated conversations and messaging.

In my own business I have found that potential customers crave more information and communication in these recessionary times.  I am doing much more hand holding on the front end than ever before. People are nervous and want lots of information, not marketing messages. They want to know precisely what your product or service will do in clear terms and many want the ability to ask you about it directly even if the information is clearly spelled out in writing.

Even as people crave more information, they are not always paying attention. As they scan your site, blog post or twitter message, they are also thinking about their retirement account, how they will afford to send their kids to college and protecting their own jobs. The distraction makes it easy to misinterpret communications. Now more than ever, it is important to be clear in what and how you communicate. Subtle attempts at humor or thoughtful discourse may lead to unexpected blow-ups.

We need not fear the times in which we live but rather embrace the reality and step forward to lead the way.  Even as we accept a lack of control there is an opportunity to be a leader in this new age of communication.

Have you noticed a difference in the way people communicate? Have you made any personal adjustments?

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What you Talking ‘bout Willis?

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Written by Karen D. Swim

As if we had not tortured and twisted the American language enough, an entire new lexicon has arisen as a result of social media. Our language is now populated by pop culture colloquialisms, abbreviated text speak and social media-isms. Add industry jargon to the mix and you have a communication nightmare.

What Say You?

Me: Here in MI our local ABC station follows that practice, it’s great.

Twitter Friend: I’m new to twitter speak, what’s MI?

In the above exchange I used the standard postal abbreviation for Michigan – MI – assuming that I was being inclusive with my language choice. Think again. We have become so accustomed to strange abbreviations and new words on Twitter that MI could have stood for anything.

Another example:

Travis: I’ll work on the feed and get it corrected, thanks for your help.
Me: No problem, ping me when it’s fixed and I’ll add you to my reader.
Travis: Oh, I don’t use Ping yet but I know I should learn
Me: No, not Ping.fm the service, I meant email or IM me to let me know when it’s done

See how confusing our language has become. We have created a virtual tower of Babel where it’s a wonder that we are still able to carry on conversations. We are friending, tweeting, linking, plurking, kwipping, blogging, shouting, skyping and on occasion hitting each other on our cellies. No wonder, even Dutch words have taken on a familiarity for me of late. These days I am as comfortable with unfamiliar foreign languages as my native tongue of English.

Think Before you Speak or Text

Yes, your mother was right. I have stuck my foot in my mouth more times than I care to admit when I have not taken a moment to think before opening my big fat mouth.  The removal of facial gestures and inflections makes communicating in writing even more hazardous. Pause before you hit the send button and make sure that your message will be read as intended.

So What Does That Have to Do with The Tea In China?

Now more than ever it is important to strive for clear communication. It is easier to have our words taken out of context, misunderstood or even unknowingly offend. Clear and simple language, free of jargon will foster understanding when communicating with a large and diverse audience.

Regional language and colloquial phrases are a wonderful way to add color to your communications but use them wisely. Phrases that are appropriate on one platform can be easily misunderstood on another.

I am going to make a greater effort to not be Misunderstood in MI, after all the whole point of social media is to communicate which implies being understood.

How do you manage our bourgeoning language? Do you have any personal practices or tips to share?