Last week Mark Zuckerberg (him off Facebook) announced a new way of sending a message that isn’t email and isn’t instant messaging. I have been thinking about the lines I have personally drawn up to try and use the most effective method of communication for each circumstance.
Texting. I only use this to send the briefest statement, like ‘Sorry, I am running late’. I do not send questions in texts and get a feeling of dread when I receive a text that reads ‘how are you?’ or ‘what is you address?’. Texts are not discrete either, sitting in a room with someone click, click, clicking is way more annoying than if they were just making a short call. At least that way it lets others earwig too.
Instant Messaging. Maybe it is a generation thing, but I find IM the most ineffective, distracting and pointless way of communicating. I have had IM chats with friends I find after the initial excitement of getting an instant response there isn’t a natural flow or rhythm to the conversation. In fact that is what it feels like a, sitting opposite someone and instead of speaking you are writing a message and handing it to them. Why not pick up the phone? There is the added craziness factor that you can get into a situation of having 5 IM conversations at the same time, which is a bit like standing in the middle of a party trying to have personal chats with 5 different people at the same time. I am not a fan. There is however one place where I think IM rocks. Technical support, those fantastic websites that have a IM window where you can type questions to a tech or sales representative and get really helpful responses without having to dial a premium phone number only to bamboozled by the response and agreeing to any response just to end the call.
Email. I use email a lot, I mean a lot. I can quite happily stay in touch with friends and family and try to keep as much of my work communication in emails. I find it discrete, convenient and is effective when you want to say something to one person or fifty. Great for making an announcement, saying thank you, arranging a meet up and sending documents. It is communication that you can pick up and put down when you want, unlike a phone or IM you decide when you are ready to look at messages.
Telephone. As part of my account manager role I find the telephone as indispensable as email. The two really compliment each other. There are definitely occasions where I would prefer to send an email, but to really gauge the reactions of a client and to really understand their point of the view a call is the only solution when a face to face meeting is not possible. I do not use the telephone a lot outside of work except to catch up with friends and family.
I really cannot fathom what Facebook has got planned, maybe it will be a hybrid of existing methods. Perhaps I am missing the point but I don’t use Facebook as method of communication at the moment because I have telephone and email.