Business Communication in the Digital Age – Fresh Perspectives

People and organizations often communicate through technologies that restrict their communication to very few characters; a difficult task when the content is highly technical and specialized. This study relies on the theoretical work of informative and explanatory communication (Rowan, 2003), and it also expands the utility of this theory into new communication technology environments where brevity is valued and practically forced upon the user. We content analyzed 1,367 Twitter messages spanning a six-month time following a highly technical and controversial organizational event. The analyses reveal that even though Twitter is limited to 140 alphanumeric characters, almost one-third of all messages contained some type of technical details. The technical translation strategies—direct, elucidating, or quasi-scientific—used in the microblog, were either self-contained or briefly introduced along with expanded details available by accessing hyperlinks. Furthermore, the specific types of technical translation strategies that this organization used changed over time.

2007

Abstract The scope, scale, and substance of business communication are undergoing a sea change as the result of recent developments and emerging uses of communication technologies. This article adopts Sproull and Kiesler's model of first-level and second-level effects to explore how business communication research might respond to these changes and to introduce the articles in this issue by Herrmann and by Turner and Reinsch.

Technology connects people globally and gives them the opportunity to interact and form online social networks. Virtual interactive communication platforms (VICOPs) may change traditional communication processes and companies need to adapt to those new forms of communication. Inappropriate communication might negatively influence the image people form about a company. In online environments, people's interpretive capabilities and preferences in terms of how they perceive a company's identity might be quite different in contrast to the offline world. This research investigates in the new challenges companies face when dealing with people gathering on VICOPs and how this might impact the image they form about a company. Introduction Technologies like radio or television have brought mass means of communication, which changed the way people are communicating and receiving information. The Internet again causes many changes in the way people communicate with one another, and it has changed customer behaviours dramatically. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has capabilities and functions that differentiate it from traditional media and face-to-face communication. The advent of social online media has brought new communication platforms such as VICOPs, where the clear separation 2/8 between interpersonal and mass-mediated communication collapses. People gathering in those spaces are not only looking for information but also socializing and hanging out with their peers. Digital spaces, however, have functions that differentiate it from offline publics. They are (Boyd and Ellison, 2007): (i) persistent, even if posts are rarely written with long-term archiving in mind (there are people joining a platform at a later point in time, reading posts, which have been written a certain while ago), (ii) searchable by anyone at anytime, (iii) replicable and remixable with other content on other platforms, and (iiii) having an invisible audience. Interactive digital media might bring new communication structures and we need to better understand how communication-flows are affected by those changes. Consumers will not overlook communication weaknesses in the online world and inappropriate corporate communication might negatively influence the image they have about a company. Because corporate communication can be emphasised as the interface between corporate identity and corporate image, the conceptualisation of corporate identity and image in digital spaces, is an important part of the study. In order to measure the virtual corporate image formed in VICOPs, new scales might be needed. These scales would enable us to quantify a virtual corporate image and compare it with that of competitors.

Public Relations Review, 1987

Reinventing Corporate Communications In Re-inventing the Corporation, John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene' offer one "'look to the future" of corporate America attd provide inforntation about hozo corporations can change in neTo and positive ways during the current "'information age." In this essay, the attthors urge a "'re-inventing" of corporate communications in today's organizations. They believe that changes have occurred and continue to occur in corporate America which call for nr ways of conceptualizing attd operationalizing the process of corporate communications. Specific public relations and organizational communication concepts are discussed that they believe are vital to a comprehensive totderstanding of corporate communications attd to a productive line of corporate communications research.

Companies around the globe are embracing and adapting social media for many different intentions: customer service, marketing, internal communications, public relations or corporate social responsibility, etc. It is now a reality that social media is channging the way stakeholders and companies communicate daily, providing opportunities for collaboration, participation, interactivity, and engagement. Therefore, social media is conceived today in the corporate world as a strategic communication partner, driving new and unique possibilities for organizations to engage stakeholders in conversations. We are witnesses of a new digital era where consumers are becoming active users rather than passive individuals, changing dramatically how society operates. But, are these useful technological tools employed widely and precisely by corporations in order to facilitate and improve communications? This research aims to discover the usage of different social media platforms by Puerto Rican companies. A content analysis was performed to the Facebook and Twitter official profiles of the top 400 locally owned Puerto Rican companies of 2009. The principal objective was to find if social media sites were mainly used as a strategic tool for corporate communication that can enhance stakeholder participation and engagement. Results showed that Puerto Rican companies are not employing social media platforms for improving communications with different stakeholders, failing to take advantage of the enormous possibilities that social media has for communication.

Communication is the nervous system of an organization. It keeps the members of the organization informed about the internal and external happenings relevant to a task and of interest to the organizationalobjectives. It is the process of influencing the action of a person or a group. It is a process of meaningful interaction among human beings to initiate,execute,accomplish or prevent certain actions. Communication is the lifeblood of an organization. Without communication an organization is lifeless and its existence is in danger. The term communication has been derived from the Latin word " communist" means common. The communication means to inform , to tell , to show or to spread information. It may be interpreted aqs interchange of thoughts or information to bring about understanding and confidence for a good industrial relations. It brings about unity of purpose , interest and efforts in an organization. 2: Objectives of study: a) To see the meaning of communication and digital communication. b) To study the types and means of communication & growth. c) To study the advantages of communication. 3 Research Methodology: Information for the present study is collected mainly from secondary sources and observation. Different books, journals, newspapers ,websites and other material are being consulted to get the information regarding the topic.. 4: Observation: A) Meaning of Communication: There are number of definitions of the term communication. 1) "Communication is the transfer of information from one person to another whether or not it elicits confidence"-Knoontz and O Donell. 2) " The process of passing information and understanding from one person to another. It is essentially a bridge of meaning between people by using the bridge of meaning a person can safely cross the river of misunderstanding.-Davis. Or in simple word "Communication means the transmission of information, ideas, emotions, skills by use of symbols, pictures, figures or graphs." 3) Digital communication: Digital communication means electronic transmission of information that has been encoded digitally. B) Types & means of communication: Basically organizations engage in two types of communication i.e. Internal and external communication. Internal communication comprises of such things as personal matters, the moral of the company, employees, their motivation and in general the control of the flow of information within the company

Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska, sectio H – Oeconomia, 2021

The aim of the article is to present the role of social media in the process of communication between the company and its stakeholders, with the use of new tools. ICT tools enable rich and unlimited communication of each organization with each stakeholder. From the point of view of enterprises, this leads to a dramatic reduction in transaction costs, an increase in the effectiveness of managing contacts with interest groups, as well as spatial development and range of operations. In order to minimize marketing and promotional costs, enterprises look for all possible communication tools to reach the largest group of recipients of their message. A prime example is the phenomenon of social media, or internet "creations" that allow users to create and exchange user-generated content in order to create "crowd wisdom" used by businesses. The considerations contained in the article are an element of research on the role of social media in communicating with its stakeholders. The article is both in theoretical and practical knowledge. The subjects of the research are medium and large enterprises from the high technology service sector in Poland.

Purpose: To better understand the concept of communication in organizations through the comparison of definitions given by scholars from different business-related communication disciplines: marketing, public relations, organizational communication and corporate communication. Approach: A review of prevalent definitions in the four mentioned disciplines; discussion of communication aims, communication categorizations, theoretical background and innovations in each of these disciplines; and finally analysis of convergences and differences. Findings: All the disciplines considered in this study converge in looking at the entire communication of a business, adopting a relational perspective, valuing some intangible resources as outcomes of communication. They highlight also some nuanced differences. Research implications: Higher value should be attached to research results in the communication field that come from considering multiple points of view, because each discipline contributes specific connotations to the comprehension of communication. Originality/value: The paper compares some business-related communication disciplines and considers each as independent while benefiting from cross-fertilization. The multiple points of view allow a multidisciplinary approach and the awareness of the polysemic nature of communication.

Strategic Corporate Communication in the Digital Age, 2021

Web 2.0 and the social networks have changed how organizations interact with their publics. They enable organizations to engage in symmetric dialogic communications with individuals. Various organizations are increasingly using different social media to enhance their visibility and relationships with their publics. They allow them to disseminate information, to participate, listen and actively engage in online conversations with different stakeholders. Some social networks have become a key instrument for corporate communication. Therefore, this chapter presents a critical review on the organizations' dialogic communications with the publics via social networks. It puts forward a conceptual framework that comprises five key dimensions including 'active presence', 'interactive attitude', 'interactive resources', 'responsiveness' and 'conversation'. This contribution examines each dimension and explains their effect on the organizations' dialogic communication with the publics. Hence, this contribution has resulted in important implications for corporate communication practitioners as well as for academia. Moreover, it opens future research avenues to academia.

The theory and practice of corporate communication is usually driven by other disciplinary concerns than the field of organizational communication. However, its particular mind-set focusing on wholeness and consistency in corporate messages increasingly influence the domain of contemporary organizational communication as well. We provide a formative and critical review of research on corporate communication as a platform for highlighting crucial intersections with select research traditions in organizational communication to argue for a greater integration between these two areas of research. Following this review, we relax the assumptions underlying traditional corporate communication research and show how these dimensions interact in organizational and communication analysis, thus, demonstrating the potential for a greater cross-fertilization between the two areas of research. This cross-fertilization, as we will illustrate, enriches the theorization of corporate and organizational communication and may better link micro-and macro level analyses.