Shifting Tides of Communication

I’ve been around long enough to remember the impact the introduction of email had in the workplace, and in our private lives. As people came to rely on email, business practices shifted over time. Paper letters and memos almost completely disappeared from communication. Fewer phone calls and meetings are initiated, because simple subjects can be addressed in email. Instead of faxing or mailing large documents, they are digitized and emailed. This shift began in the early to mid-80’s; about 25 years ago! Fast forward to late 2009. Although email is still a major factor in business communication, more recent additions to the technology scene continue to change the tides of the vast sea of communication. Today we find ourselves navigating unpredictable currents the impact of which may not settle in the near future. My 17-year-old nephew tells me, “Email is completely dead as a means of basic conversation.” His brother, a college junior, adds “I don’t think I have emailed any friends my age in years; in fact, I don’t think I know any of their email addresses.” Both, however, concede they still use email for school-related information – sending school work and communicating with teachers. Texting is the preferred and primary mode of communication among Generation Y-ers. I had to laugh when I read, “Texting has many wonders.” Among them, the ability to carry on a “conversation” over a period of time and/or in a noisy locale. Multiple people can be texted at the same time (that one was news to me; I’ll have to look at my phone again), and it’s easy to stay in frequent contact with your friends. According to my college-student nephew, “I see my phone as a texting device first, and a calling device second.” He uses Skype when calling his long distance friends; reserving use of his cell phone minutes for calling his parents or his brother. Voice mail is apparently just an annoyance. Why make someone press all those additional keys on their phone to retrieve a voice mail when a text is so much easier? My question is what does all this mean in light of the much-hyped social media revolution? Businesses are tying themselves into knots, "Tweeting" and trying to create an alluring presence on Facebook. Will this be effective when targeting the Gen-Y demographic? The Gen-Y’ers I interviewed (via a Facebook message BTW) all use Facebook to one extent or another. From another college student interviewed, “I usually use Facebook messaging…because everyone I know checks their Facebook almost daily and it’s a crapshoot when sending an email”. Two mentioned Facebook being an effective means of setting up group events. Two also admitted that how they and their friends use Facebook is evolving. LinkedIn is another consideration – not yet on these students radar screens – but increasingly important to business. All three of my young interviewees recognized the generational difference in communication preferences, and tend to modify their behavior accordingly. What will it mean to brand domination when marketers figure out how best to engage this demographic as they come into their salary-earning years? The possibilities are exciting. This shift in the tides of communication is affecting business practices – just as email did 25 years ago. The challenge is how to harness and harmonize use of the multiple technologies available to springboard past the competition.