Mittsusaru
Nov. 15th, 2010 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysA number of connected events relating to communication recently:
The lesson here, I think, is that it is a diverse communications world out there these days. There is no one single way to get in touch with people. If you want to send a message to somebody, make sure you are using a channel that the recipient is open to. There isn't any point sending an email to somebody who doesn't check their emails. That is why I have facebook & twitter accounts - so that I can use them to get in touch with folk who prefer to roll that way. Similarly that is why SFFANZ News was set up with so many different syndication feed options.
By the same token, make sure that it is clear what your preferred message reception mechanism is. In the interests of clarity and practicing what I preach, let it be known that the best way to get hold of me is via email to my gmail address (on my profile page). It is more likely to get me quickly than even phone or text message and certainly more reliable than snail mail, blog comment, message board, facebook and especially twitter.
On a related note because I mentioned syndicated feeds above. If you want to comment on something like a blog post that has been syndicated, you should really follow it back to source, or at least a forum where comments are regularly processed. I regularly read a lot of syndicated feeds on my LJ friends page, but it I ever want to read or make comments, I usually go back to the original site - there just isn't any point commenting on LJ. Similarly, my blog is generated on Dreamwidth, which is then sent to LJ and then in turn on to Facebook and Twitter. If you comment at the end of the chain in Twitter you are unlikely to be read, let alone responded to. You need to follow the chain back to at least LJ, if not all the way back to DW.
- Announcements from AOL and Facebook that they have new web based email initiatives coming soon.
- A recent visitor to these shores set up a (hotmail) email address just for the trip. He does not usually have an email address at all and you need to snail-mail or phone him.
- I had a need to contact an acquaintance I hadn't been in touch with for some time. Email elicited no response at all. But when I remembered he was on facebook, a message sent that way got a response in a few seconds.
- It appears people have been sending tweets targeted to me. I do have a twitter account but I don't check it very often and so missed the messages which weren't sent by any other method (I only found them by accident this morning via an unrelated search).
The lesson here, I think, is that it is a diverse communications world out there these days. There is no one single way to get in touch with people. If you want to send a message to somebody, make sure you are using a channel that the recipient is open to. There isn't any point sending an email to somebody who doesn't check their emails. That is why I have facebook & twitter accounts - so that I can use them to get in touch with folk who prefer to roll that way. Similarly that is why SFFANZ News was set up with so many different syndication feed options.
By the same token, make sure that it is clear what your preferred message reception mechanism is. In the interests of clarity and practicing what I preach, let it be known that the best way to get hold of me is via email to my gmail address (on my profile page). It is more likely to get me quickly than even phone or text message and certainly more reliable than snail mail, blog comment, message board, facebook and especially twitter.
On a related note because I mentioned syndicated feeds above. If you want to comment on something like a blog post that has been syndicated, you should really follow it back to source, or at least a forum where comments are regularly processed. I regularly read a lot of syndicated feeds on my LJ friends page, but it I ever want to read or make comments, I usually go back to the original site - there just isn't any point commenting on LJ. Similarly, my blog is generated on Dreamwidth, which is then sent to LJ and then in turn on to Facebook and Twitter. If you comment at the end of the chain in Twitter you are unlikely to be read, let alone responded to. You need to follow the chain back to at least LJ, if not all the way back to DW.