It’s natural that communication has undergone certain development throughout history. It’s obvious that technology and telecommunications move back-to-back and the latest breakthrough which was the Internet and mobile devices have resulted in bringing global telecommunications to a brand new level.
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Apart from the technological shifts, as human relations and communication evolved, they have also added to the further development and newer discoveries which seem revolutionary even now, pushing it all forward from one level to another.
A Minute of History
Perhaps, there were three main steps in history that were the turning points and led to the rise of communication technologies.
- Stone pictographs, invented in ancient times gave a rise to the first written communication.
- Further on, the invention of papyrus, then—paper, and wax, as well as a printing press in the 15th century made it possible to transfer the first documents, unlike stones which were immobile. This enabled to expand the literacy throughout the globe and increase the communication level.
- The latest and the most revolutionary innovation was the widespread introduction and application of the electronic waves that enabled using wireless technologies we know them nowadays.
Undoubtedly, the greatest contribution to the development of communications technologies was the discovery of the Internet. Without it, modern telecommunications would have been impossible. The most important about the evolution of the new technologies for human communication was the introduction of the Internet which decreased the costs and increased the speed of information transfer.
Possibility to lower the costs & increase the speed of communication services enabled bringing communication to the new quality level — the most widely consumed services all over the globe.
Thus, respondents to Reuters Institute’s 2015 Digital News Report indicated how individuals consume news:
- 11% paid for news online,
- 26% accessed it through a smartphone,
- 32% shared news stories through email and social media.
And this is a drop in the sea in comparison with the other types of telecommunications. Because the lion’s share of it undoubtedly belongs to SMS: over 560 billion texts are sent every month worldwide, which makes text messaging the most used data service in the world. But for the Internet, it wouldn’t become so affordable to the average people nowadays.
Ways Technology Has Changed Communication
It is easy to see how technological progress has changed communication even at the domestic level and caused some changes in the sphere of telecommunications.
New vs. Traditional Media
The face of communication has been greatly affected by traditional means of media. The point is that old-fashioned printed media experience fear that innovative web-based and mobile apps like Viber, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook will sooner or later substitute it entirely and will become the first places the readers will go to in search of news.
New vs. Traditional Marketing
Marketing is realized via multiple communication channels. Thus, technological progress has affected it dramatically, as well. The truth is that both big and small businesses can no longer rely on traditional advertising in order to get a profit. Newer and newer means are being used to organize a more effective communication between the business and the customers and attracting new customers through bulk SMS messaging and social networks have now become nearly the most widely used method. Apart from that, marketers often resort to the following methods:
- Native advertising, which is aimed at driving clients to a site by inserting a supported link inside a news feed, always offers some value add content.
- “Sticky ads,” which are re-targeting advertisements chasing users throughout other websites they visit.
Automation of customer relations in marketing, which allows building drip-style email campaigns based on the customer triggers. - Big data collection enables the marketers to collect vast data amounts and predicts globally what their target audience might want or do next.
- SMS messaging strategy, which enables crafting communication and addressing all the stakeholders, satisfying their specific needs
Digital PR
Availability and overabundance of social media made PR extremely challenging. At the same time, it widened the potential accessibility and the speed of reaction. Nowadays PR managers should be more diligent in the way they use the information because the one that owns the data — owns the world, you know.
Communication Devices
The growing overabundance of modern technologies, which become cheaper and faster, makes it easy for the users to stay connected even on the run, using mobile devices. Everyone nowadays has a computer or a tablet at home, brings it to work or vice versa, etc. This may cause some risks of data breaches for huge corporations. That is why both parties: the organizations and the workers, should be ready to face the consequences as the possibility that workers may use their own gadgets in the workplace implies that communications (and IT) experts may be allowed to inspect them because business-related information may be utilized by workers both on and off the clock.
Workplace Communication
All the above mentioned makes professionals think more outside the firewall because accessibility of devices and apps rather indulge their communication in the network, than in reality. However, allowing organization employees to access some digital files and work email outside of a business firewall is proven to increase productivity. Such tendencies wouldn’t become evident but for the telecommunications’ technology breakthrough.
Telecommunications Nowadays
Though fast-growing technologies may turn out to be both a curse and a blessing for any business, they still increase productivity in times. Even despite the fact that marketing and public relations are being constantly aggravated by technology overabundance, internal communication has also been changed and elevated to a higher level.
Nevertheless, under the circumstances of intense and constantly increasing competition on the market, it is vital for both the customers and the organizations to stay adjusted. They should mind that using the latest technology trends for the organization’s betterment needs thoughtful planning, a carefully thought out communication strategy, supported by professional strategic communication, and a thorough media communication analysis of skillful field professionals.
A positive look at how communication has evolved with the new technologies is the key to success in any business.
Source: Medium
