Today’s college students are reputed to be well-versed in the use of social media. Do you think that heavy use of social media helps or hurts your ability to communicate in writing and face to face with important people you will encounter in the work place, such as authority figures like employers and colleagues, who are older than you?
A question for my fall semester 2014 Public Relations Writing students
December 3, 2014 by Les Potter
Posted in Communication | Tagged Face-to-Face Communication, Social media, Writing | 18 Comments
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Lester R. Potter, MBA, ABC, IABC Fellow, is a Senior Lecturer in the PR Track, Mass Comm. department, of Towson University, Maryland. He is "ABD" (all but dissertation) for a doctorate in Instructional Technology at Towson. He began his academic career in 2004. Previously, Potter was president of Les Potter Incorporated, an international consulting firm he founded in 1998. Prior to that, he held various integrated marketing communication management positions with for profit and nonprofit organizations. Email Les at lpotter@towson.eduPages
Although I have not researched it, probably our forefathers and mothers had similar qualms regarding the advent of the ballpoint pen and typewriter. Seriously, SM offers another venue for communicating. People with good writing skills will be able to communicate well regardless of the venue or technology involved–and they will adapt their style accordingly. The opposite is true for people with poor writing skills.
I was a copyeditor when linotypes roamed the Earth. I saw headlines as a challenge. How can I communicate the essence of a story in a few words? Nowadays, I practice my headline skills via Twitter.
Social media has inhibited our ability to be present at times and has allowed us to hide behind a screen when confronting others. It has also repressed our desire to reach out to others and attend social gatherings. However, I do not think it harms our ability to write well or communicate with others, including authority figures. College students have a firmer grasp on this constantly changing modernized and globalized form of communication than those who are older, which means they have also gained a broader range of communication skills and knowledge of how to interact with different audiences for different purposes.
I believe college students have different incentives for learning how to both communicate with authority figures and communicate over social media. College students act out of their own self-interest and gain knowledge of how to communicate effectively with authority figures to get what they want—a new phone, a pay raise, or a better grade. Other incentives might simply be not getting fired, a hopeful recommendation, or gaining the respect of someone older. Social media has made society more transparent, so college students might not trust authority figures as much; however, they can still communicate effectively with them.
Social media incentives are somewhat different, because users are speaking to a different audience—in most cases, their peers. Social media users want to impress, inform, or simply speak to each other to garner a broader audience. This requires a different kind of communication, one that is much more relaxed and simplified than would typically be found in a workplace environment.
Political movements have occurred simply by making use of Twitter hashtags. Events on Facebook can be created and attended by hundreds of people in mere minutes. These events and movements, however, would not take place if the people who had created them were not skilled communicators with a large following. I appreciate people on Twitter who can say something witty and attention grabbing in 140 characters or less. Simplification is an important writing and communication tool, especially with all of the media available and all of the clutter on the internet.
Social media, in our generation, has been seen as a distraction or a hinderance in the professional world. However, it is important to note that while there are many downfalls to the “overuse” of social media, it can be a “double edged sword”. And by stating so, we need to recognize the incredible tool it can be used for.
This generation of college kids is constantly using the many different outlets of social media. And I do believe it would be a legitimate concern whether or not this is hindering their ability to interact on a professional level (both writing and speaking) to those of an older generation and someone of authority.
However, I do not believe this should be a concern. I think that college aged students have learned to recognize the dissonance from socializing online with close friends and interacting with employers in a professional setting. Yet, many are successfully trying to break down that barrier and have the two work in harmony, showing that there is a good balance of social media and face to face interaction in the workplace. In addition, there are many aspects to social media that can help with a professional work place. For example, Twitter limits users to 140 characters a tweet, therefore users, like many college aged students, can learn to be more concise with their writing or speaking skills ( a little “Word Economy”).
Social media deteriorating the face to face interaction in the work place or in any setting is not a genuine fact. Many people can learn to balance the use of social media and still maintain or even improve their personal speaking and writing skills in the professional workplace.
I think that the heavy use of social media does not hurt your ability to communicate in writing and face to face with important people you will encounter in the work place, such as authority figures like employers and colleagues, who are older than you. As a future PR professional and approaching college graduate, I am required to demonstrate a proficiency in writing and effective communication skills. Although, I am well versed in the use of social media, I also know how to hold an appropriate converstation with a superior.
Many people have argued that technological devices are redefining human communication and that the use of technology is impersonal. I do agree when emotional sentiments are expressed through typing, without clues such as tone of voice, facial expressions and body language it’s hard to receive the intended message. It’s more effective to have an intimate conversation in person. A person’s heavy usage of social media has no correlation on whether that person can effectively write and or have important face to face interactions.
Social media is incredibly prominent in the world today and will only continue to grow. Nowadays, it’s hard to even watch tv without a hashtag popping up at the bottom of the screen, encouraging you to live tweet about it. The kind of prominence that social media has in many aspects of life almost forces young people to get involved with it. This especially applies to the generation of kids who grew up in such a technological world where they’ve never lived life without the Internet or smartphones.
I’m a firm believer that social media use can be very positive and very great if used in the right way. I think a lot of young people today can get carried away with social media and almost abuse it in a way. I know people who will go out and do things together with the goal of taking pictures so that they can post them on Instagram, or so that they can tweet about it. If used in moderation, social media can be a valuable tool.
Despite the heavy media use among the young generation, I don’t think it negatively affects their ability to communicate in writing or face-to-face with older authority figures in the workplace. I think if young professionals are invested in their work and aware of what is expected or acceptable, they should have no problem communicating properly. The way you would write in a text or a tweet isn’t the same way you would write in a birthday card to your grandmom or to your boss at your part time job in college. These kinds of other interactions balance out the prominence of social media and prepare young people for other necessary kinds of communication. As long as young people make the effort to be aware of what kind of communication or wording is appropriate in a given situation, they should have no problem delivering it effectively.
Social media is growing at a pace that is unstoppable. With the growth of social media, it is now becoming an issue of whether or not a heavy use of social media will help or hurt the ability to communicate in writing and face-to-face communication with important people in the workplace, such as employers and colleagues that are your elders.
Today, college students especially will be graduating with a large use of social media communication under their belt. Being a college student myself, and using social media I have a strong opinion that being active in social media can only help communication because it allows for constant communication with everyone.
Communication is obviously key in the workplace, especially amongst important colleagues and employers. Being able to communicate in large through social media also means you have to have some form of communication skill. Although constant social media communication can be beneficial for communication skills, I do worry that it can effect how people write and communicate face-to-face because of social media using a great amount of slang. Although, I would hope in all cases that people would have the common sense to know the correctness of how to communicate in the workspace. Although we do not portray that in our social media use, I believe our generation, the main social media users, have the knowledge to know what is right and what is wrong in the workplace.
Social media serves as a medium of connectivity between people locally, nationally, and internationally. I think the new form of communication has many advantages. It is instant and yields immediate response and it also has a broad reach. Social media provides a place for people to express opinions and share moments freely with people they know and people they do not know. College students are well versed in the area of social media and have established a different way of communicating with this medium. I don’t believe this new style of communication creates a huge barrier between generations.
Social media does not necessarily hurt our ability to communicate through writing. I believe it just offers another way of communicating. Young people involved in the professional working environment are aware of and understand the differences in how you communicate via social media versus a more formal approach. The heavy use of social media will not affect the way one communicates to a person of authority as long as they maintain the understanding of the difference in platforms.
I do believe social media has hurt our ability to communicate face to face with persons of authority. Social media has given people a certain confidence that is only present when sitting behind a keyboard. I think our generation has become accustom to the idea of using social media to express opinions and thoughts in a way that they would not express them if they were speaking to that person directly. People in our generation have resorted to utilizing social media so much that sometimes they forget what its like to have a face to face conversation with anyone. It has become more common to have more friends on social media than in the real world. I think that impersonal element of the internet does have an effect on how one is able to communicate with someone face to face. I do however believe it is individualized. Some college students are able to speak professionally and still posses the skills to communicate face to face in a professional environment.
From a general standpoint, I do believe that social media has an effect on the way millennials communicate with each other, as well as persons of authority over them. Although, I personally do not feel that social media has affected the way I communicate with others, both in written form and face-to-face; I can certainly see the result of social media use in some of my peers.
Social media is all about condensing thoughts and ideas in to the smallest expression possible. Yes, word economy is incredibly important in Public Relations; however, on Twitter, you only have 140 characters to state a concept or idea. The absolute bare minimum is required to relate thoughts and feelings with the rest of the world. I feel that because we are so concerned with shortening the length of our expressions through the internet, it becomes harder to millennials to carry on an in-depth conversation face-to-face. They aren’t used to explaining in-depth or elaborating on a subject of importance to them, so when it comes time to speak eloquently to a boss, or give an important presentation, they are at a disadvantage.
Written communication is sacrificed in the same manner. The concept of fully constructed sentences and proper use of grammar are completely thrown out the window on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Again, it’s hard to be concerned with “you’re” and “your” when you’re trying to communicate in the smallest number of characters possible. Emojis have become a new way to communicate without the use of words entirely. These types of errors can certainly slip into written communication if the student isn’t careful.
Of course, these examples could represent the exception, not the rule. I believe while social media can affect the way we communicate as a generation, students are usually very aware of the appropriate times to change from hashtag slinging- social media buffs to young professionals.
Over the last five years, social media has become a growing trend. More and more, high school students, college students and even professionals are using social media to communicate, to advertise, to get ideas across, and to even stand up for what they believe in.
There has been so many times that I have heard “you youngsters text so much that you are not going to know how to communicate in person when you have to.” Yes, this may be true. Maybe we won’t know how to communicate the way that you USED to communicate in the professional world, but the world is changing. More and more, professional companies are using their social medias to help their image and advertise various messages.
I believe that to say that social media helps or hurts is very much black and white, but the subject, itself, is very grey. The language that society, as a whole, uses while on various social media sites is extremely different than the language that is appropriate in the work place. Twitter has made it so that users need to put their thoughts into 140 characters or less. This causes grammar mistakes, abbreviations and spelling errors. This may lead to habitual typing. If someone is so used to typing the “twitter-way,” in the work place, without even realizing it, the person may use that same lingo, which could lead to issues.
In contrast, a supervisor may want that in their employees. They may want an employee who can be relevant to the social media lingo. This being said, the employee still needs to know proper english and grammar, but because social media is such a growing trend, it is completely relevant to today’s society. Employees may want someone well-versed in social media, but also well-versed in normal communication skills.
I guess you could look at being so hip to social media as a gift and a curse. It just depends on whether or not it is being used to its greatest power. Knowing how to work social media, and use the correct language for social media can be extremely helpful as long as the person can flip off the switch of social media lingo and become professional. Thats the key.
The role of social media is a growing trend and has heavily impacted the lives of college students. Throughout today’s generation, individuals use social media differently depending on the target audience. With that being said, I strongly believe that social media usage will not effect how college students communicate to authorities in the working environment.
Personal social media accounts allow individuals to express themselves more freely and informally. Individuals who use social media for personal reasons communicate differently in the working environment. I believe our society has a set of rules that implies how to communicate with employers or authoritative figures. Face-to-face and written communication within the work place is more formal. For instance, individuals tend to communicate more formally when asking for a raise or discussing client information.
Social media has impacted our society, which resulted in the popularity of using social media in the working environment. It is now a growing trend for individuals to have both personal and professional accounts in order to communicate with different audiences. Professional or business related accounts use hash tags and @ mentions just like personal accounts. However, professional accounts are usually written without spelling errors and deliver messages to an audience that does not consist of friends and family.
Overall, I think that college students will excel in the working environment as long as they separate their personal and professional lives on social media. Employers and authoritative figures are learning how to use social media as a marketing strategy. The way we communicate in the working environment is more lenient as a result of social media. As technology changes, society must learn to keep up with the trends in order to succeed.
Social media is constantly growing and being used by our generation as well as younger generations. We use this to communicate with our peers, co-workers, and authority figures without being face to face with them. There is a certain language and style of communication that is used in the world of social media. People use abbreviations, hash tags, and other distinct language when talking online. I feel that when communicating with others face-to-face we as a society are smart enough not to use this same language due to socialization in schools and extracurricular activities. For example if you submit a paper in the same style that you would type a Facebook post or tweet, you are likely to get a zero on that paper. This helps use distinguish what is to be used in the online and offline world.
Social media can effect our communication with others because we are finding new ways to communicate besides face-to-face interactions. With social media an immediate response is not required, let alone any response at all. For example if you were to receive a Facebook message and did not know how to answer if right away you have time to think of your response and form it the way you want it to be. On the other hand if you receive the same message in person you are put on the spot and have to respond immediately. In this way social media may hurt our ability to think and respond quickly as we are taking time to form the perfect response.
I feel that in our case as advertising and PR students immersing ourselves in the world of social media is very beneficial to our careers. Both industries are heavily relying on communicating with the public and social media is a great way for us to do this. If we are seeking a job that requires social media skills, being able to show our potential employers that we have these skills first hand will increase our chances of getting this job. Basically I feel that the use of social media is neither hurting or helping our society, instead it is something that we have to balance with our personal lives and become accustom too.
In a society that is constantly changing and evolving, social media has become one of the most beneficial tools used by businesses. Living in a generation that is surrounded by social media, I believe it improves my ability to communicate in writing with important people you will encounter in the work place. Due to the fact that socializing went digital when I was in middle school, writing became almost second nature.
Social media allows us to communicate with thousands of others without leaving your house, something generations above us didn’t have until the past few years. Sites like twitter have helped and hurt our ability to write. Due to the limitation of 140 characters, it has helped us be more concise with the words we choose to use. However, that could also be hurting us by causing us to over simplify our thoughts and not express fully what we are trying to say.
In a major like mass communications, it has given our generation a huge advantage over older individuals that haven’t had first hand experiences with social media. I feel like you do use a different tone when talking on a social media site as opposed to talking to an employer. However, as long as you mange to keep these two scenarios separate, no issues should arise.
The only issue that social media may have caused our generation, is the ability or perhaps the desire to have face to face interactions with others. Social media has done a great job at making communication simple, and has consequently made face to face interactions easily avoidable.
As social media use increases, young generations are changing the way they communicate. It is no longer necessary to see someone face-to-face or to even speak to him or her on the telephone. Everyone is constantly connected. Starting from a very early age, children are more connected to technology than ever through tablets, computer games, and smart phones. Therefore, it is only natural that, as they reach adolescence, social media becomes a natural form of communication.
Social media is changing people’s reasons for communication and how they are doing it. Social media has become a place where young people turn to instead of going outside or walking to a friend’s house. Multiple platforms provide a non-stop stream of information both beneficial and not that can be accessed at any time in the palm of one’s hand.
It is difficult to say, however, how much this new form of communication truly affects young people’s ability to communicate from a factual perspective, as it is still a very new phenomenon. From personal experience, I have witnessed many instances in which young people lack in communication areas outside of texting and talking online. Relationships are being created and nurtured through digital interaction rather than in-person, removing almost all conversational cues such as body language and tone of voice. Communicating has become something so informal and automated it is difficult to switch to a more formal, face-to-face setting when necessary. I have watched people struggle with presentations, interviews, and even casual conversations where being put on the spot without a time delay to form the perfect response puts one at a loss for words.
Overall, I feel that social media can help our young generations. I have gained many benefits from being able to contact someone at virtually any time. However, I also acknowledge that this approach to communication is ultimately changing how people communicate in every aspect of their lives. If this concept is not further understood, there could definitely be a growing divide between young and old generations with different understandings of social skills.
These days, college students use so many forms of social media.
I believe the heavy use of social media can hurt a students ability to effectively communicate. Many students constantly use social media throughout the day. These websites typically limit the amount of words (characters) that one can use. For this reason people are more inclined to speak short sentences using phrases, and slang. The constant use of casual communication on social networks, also decreases the likelihood of one using proper grammar and punctuation.
In many cases, social networks create their own jargon that is removed from social settings and sometimes even used in educational arenas.
It is also a common belief that the constant use of social media hurts one’s ability to effectively communicate in face to face interactions. I have found that this is indeed the case. Advances in technology allow people to communicate from all across the world by simply sending a text, or tweet. Despite the advantages, these limited face to face interactions hinder us from understanding social cues, and have reduced many traditional polite gestures such as thank you letters, and formal invitations.
Though I do believe the use of social media has brought the world closer by making news more accessible, I believe that in the work setting the extensive personal use of social media may hinder ones ability to be social and interact with colleagues and figure heads.
I believe there is a give and take with social media and how it effects students. Since social media uses are much more casual and tone is a lot more relaxed, structure and some grammar skills are lost with heavy social media use. However this could also be a good thing because in writing certain public relations pieces or marketing and advertising things, it’s better to have a more relaxed tone and better relate to the target audience.
As far as face to face interactions, once again there is a give and take. If a person is more used to communicating with people through text then they will not be as used to reading emotions or conveying their own properly. Body language is sometimes more important than the words that are actually said, which can’t be learned through social media. Also when using social media people have much more time to think about what they are going to say and reply accordingly, where is in person it is usually instantaneous or else there is a long awkward silence. This could ultimately effect the students confidence around people, and a lot of times with these jobs people need to be social and outgoing.
The good side of social media with face to face interactions would be that their word economy could translate over to in person. Meaning people may tend to ramble on less because online most communication is so short and to the point.
The use of social media has become more pervasive than ever before. It has become a part of mainstream culture, particularly among today’s youth. Year after year, a new form of social media emerges, offering a new opportunity for communication and self-expression. However, the use of social media is a two-sided coin. On one side, social media can be very beneficial if used in the correct way. On the other side, social media use can have a negative impact if it’s misused.
Communication is essential in the workplace. While face-to-face communication typically may be the preferred mode of communication in the workplace, social media can foster communication when face-to-face communication can’t take place. Young employees who are adept at the use of social media also may be more efficient in the performance of their job as a result of their social media skills.
However, there are downsides to the use of social media in the workplace. Face-to-face communication with peers provides key opportunities for professional development and networking, so junior employees must not rely on social media to their detriment. In addition, more senior employees may be less comfortable with the use of social media, so junior employees must judge carefully when to use social media rather than other forms of communication. Also, junior employees must avoid the temptation to use social media to hide from in person discussions on sensitive or controversial issues.
Despite the potential for misuse of social media in the workplace, it still offers opportunities for young employees in their job. As long as young employees exercise good judgment, social media can play a valuable role in the workplace.
Social media has exploded in the past few years. It has been integrated into almost everything we do involving media and technology. Our generation can be considered the social media generation and we use it to communicate with others on a daily basis. However does heavy social media usage help or hurt communication in the workforce and among colleagues?
I believe that social media definitely helps in the workforce and among colleagues if you know how and when to use it. Because social media tends to use informal language using it too much can cause grammatical errors in ones work. But if you use social media correctly in the workforce it’s a great way to establish and strengthen company and employee relationships. It’s a way for employees to feel like they have a voice in a large company and for companies to communicate with individuals among a large amount of employees.
I also think that social media is a great way for younger and older employees to communicate and stay in touch with one another based on the age gap. Like I mentioned before our generation can be considered the social media generation therefore we are the main ones using it constantly, however the older generation may be hesitant or social media and not using as often.
The negative aspects of heavy social media usage in the workforce as mentioned before is that fact that it can attribute to poor writing skills. The use of shorthand can cause grammatical errors in ones work. Also with high usage of social media it can make face to face communication awkward for some because their prime way of communicating is through Facebook and Twitter.
Overall, when used correctly and efficiently I think social media in the workforce can be a positive way to communicate not only horizontally but also vertical within an organization.
This however is a remarkable question. I believe social media hurts one’s ability to effectively communicate. Today individuals would much rather interaction through mediated communication rather than face to face. The style of communication has changed so we really aren’t meeting face to face. People often let themselves out on social media versus face to face. In other words people express themselves more freely without social media. For example on twitter the max number of character’s limit is 140, therefore even when you’re not against the clock rushing around you are only able to make a brief statement. I agree with Joefield stated above, which indicates the use of acronyms, phrases, slang, and emojis. By using lol (laugh out loud), jk (just kidding), and btw (by the way) speeds up the process by lessening the need to write long phrases. By the use of shortening of words is poor grammar.
Human presentation with experience in social interaction can help one be more prepared for a high-pressure environment meeting important figures. When in face-to-face it causes people that are plugged into technology and don’t interact as often can impair social interaction by the process of information slowing down.
However social media is coming around more and more. With social media it is influential and makes it easy to communicate. It is just another change in the world.