A while ago i wrote a simple piece for a guest Blog spot where i work. It was meant to provide a bit of background to how we communicate now in this digital age.
Things have changed over the years. We used to meet face to face or over the telephone. In fact before mobiles it was relatively expensive to call using the phone and becaue of this calls were genrally shorter. But as mobiles gradually become more mainstream they are now takiong over with a lot of people now only using mobiles. The move now is towards everyone in the family having a mobile. A landline is barely needed.
A second point was the rapid uptake of SMS text messaging. It was almost just an add on when it emerged but now ist a huge business and the medium of choice for many people. Email was also rapidly increasing and is now adopted as the defacto business communication method.
The kids though soon moved on. They used SMS and Instant messaging but email wasn’t quite a hit with them and so myspace and then Facebook tookover. This was quickly followed by a number of other social networking sites such as Twitter and Second Life.
Such is the take up now that communication can be immediate and publicised instantly from anyone. The next step is surely to integrate these services futher. Some work has already been done. Facebook now has applications that allow free voice calling. Second Life now has the possibility to add voice and conferencing. See here where they now claim to have passed 15Billion VoIP minutes since August 2007.
The future will certainly be interesting and radical. An Open Landscape awaits…
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