Back-to-Basic: The Evolution of Comm

“How much have you changed since you started OrCom?”

Question from Sir Barry that really made us think. Immeasurable, but I know I’ve changed in different ways (such as personality, comm skills, CAREER PLAN and many more). The topic this week:

B.I.S.

Three letters representing many years of communicating. It is about the Evolution Of Communication. If people would ask what that is, we can explain it using these three significant letters.

How much have you changed?

Just like anyone else in this neutral world, everybody else changes. This change may be the drastic one but everyone of us wants a/to change, whether it’d be appearance, personality, skills or goals. Some of us would even go to rallies or wars to pursue change.

In communication, it is observed that there are changes that would either be an advantage or disadvantage to the evolution of communication. Each stage in the evolution of communication has distinctions of their own, they have characteristics that would separate them from each other. I can present you a gist of each stage of the evolution.

Broadcast,Interactive and Social Media.

Broadcast: where “WE tell you” through the help of Big media buys for advertisements. “WE” pertaining to the control of information by the publisher or broadcaster and the big companies, a somewhat capitalist/bureaucratic act and a lot like Martial Law.  Widely used before when companies are more profit-oriented rather than people-oriented. Mass reached, high credibility, push comm effort with no measurement.

Interactive: where YOU “tell US what you think of what WE tell you” through the help of both big and small media buys. YOU already have a way to express your opinions in the form of comments, forum and ratings.Like a parliamentary form of government, you still have elections of representatives but most probably you have no direct say on who would be prime minister. But it is not certain that we take note of what you tell US and we still have full power over the message. There is a question of credibility, push&pull comm effort but with feedback mechanism.

Social Media: where you “Tell each other” through the  the help of small media buys and audience investments. It is when everyone can be anyone. Democratic in nature, everyone has rights yet there are still moderators. There is involvement, control is within every co-creator but low accountability and credibility.

As said in class, the Philippines is somewhere between Interactive and Social Media where both is still being used to a great advantage. As the evolution of communication continues, we promote audience participation more and give the power to contribute and control to every audience.

We continue developing the sense of engagement of all people. The evolution continues as the people also develop new ways to improve ways of communicating, selling, and advertising.

Reflection: Internet Apocalypso

A typical soap opera or koreanovela shown in the Philippines has the “bida” and the “kontrabida”. We sometimes apply the principles displayed in these soap operas that we already make them a part of our lives. In (chapter one of the Cluetrain Manifesto) Internet Apocalypso, Christopher Locke features the “kontrabida-like” role of companies to their employees/consumers. It is when the executives are scared to make their employees completely part of the company. They would limit them to tasks assigned and they were not given the complete freedom to express themselves. Think about giving up the control of what they own (even though they don’t really own their employees) would be really hard for those top execs. Some are perceived to have a profit-oriented, control freak attitude. But still, things had to change. There should be no villain in the real world.

Embracing the new technology that continues to evolve is the only way to survive in an also evolving community. Individuals have their own thoughts regarding so-many things around them, and they become more eager to voice it out. And like now, internet is the first thing that pops into our minds. No one has the right over other people’s thought and action. It’s just right that people have this new way to express their thoughts. It is seen and used in a fight for what you think is right, in a more subtle manner and without really fighting. And this time it’s not done in a rowdy way, rather people also relieve their anger and stress through the help of the internet.

From the history of silencing the voices of people inside organizations came this technology that both solves that problem and improves communication. Since our natural instinct is to communicate and interaction is vital, the internet is such a hit. You don’t have to be silent anymore because you know there are a lot of people that would listen.

The internet brings out the best in people by providing them a place to be themselves and encouraging exercise of choice and freedom. After all the information and persuasion on expressing yourself, at the end of the day that is still your choice to make. “You” (individual or a group) may use internet to either your advantage or disadvantage. Nobody wants to end up regretful, just like what everthing else, you would still be careful on expressing your thoughts (we don’t want other scandals and wars). The internet can be your best friend or your worst enemy. It can also be a source of your happiness or your fear.