What I have learned, and how it has schooled me.

   I have been lucky in my career to have had a computer available the majority of my life. However, there have been a number of things this class has taught me that I did not really utilize or understand before. I understand better how to relay information in a variety of ways. Social media, including email and messaging have been a part of my life for almost 20 years now and I always discover there are so many other ways. How to effectively blog has been something I never utilized for work purposes, but now see how it can help in management of all aspects. Sharing information effectively is the cornerstone of business communication. From forms and requests, to blogs and texts, there are many things I knew about communication before taking this class. But, in every aspect, this class has had new wisdom to learn. Communicating to an anonymous audience was a challenge, but everyone learns a little from other perspectives.

What I have learned so far - Neer

I didn't really know what to expect from a class called business communications when the semester started.  I expected if anything it would be boring.  Despite this impression, I have been very impressed with the material we have covered thus far in the semester.  I was born in 1983 which puts me at the very beginning of the millennial generation.  When I graduated high school in 2002, the internet was not really a new thing, but it was something that wasn't trusted by academia at large.  There was very little education regarding how to do things on the internet, like blogging, email, forums etc.  Social media did not exist, at least in its current forms, so the stuff I learned was how to use MS Word, how to format a letter, how to use MS Excel, things like that.  I have been very happy to cover things such as blogging, social media, email, etc.  I have been in the workforce for about 15 years, so many of the topics we cover regarding how to conduct oneself or how to convey a message I am already somewhat familiar with.  I don't mean to imply that I haven't learned anything about how to best conduct myself or how to best convey a message, but many of the ideas I had already considered in my career.  I think for somebody that is new to the workforce or who has not entered it yet, that this class could be the single best one for preparing a person to fit in professionally.  Many of the lessons we have learned I learned by failing in a real scenario.  That failure may be inevitable to truly learn, but this class really provides a great primer for what its like in a typical business workplace.  I also have been grateful for the feedback provided.  In a writing class I took previously, there was very little to no feedback, and in many cases there weren't even timely grades.  I appreciate knowing what i am doing right and what I am doing wrong, so that I know what to focus on.  All in all I think this class is valuable and would recommend it to most, which is something that can't be said for every course.

Walker Neer

Electronic Media

Electronic Media by Walker Neer

I have learned about several forms of electronic media and how they can be utilized in the business world over the last couple of weeks.  I was most interested in corporate blogs and Twitter. 

I was very surprised to see the quality of blogs available from a variety of industries.  I was familiar with blogging but had always thought of blogs as being their own independent companies.  I knew people had personal blogs and I was familiar with blogs that review music, movies, games, food etc. that were contributed to by multiple people.  I had never really considered or been aware of blogs that were operated by companies who provided products or services that were not related to the blog.   Perhaps a better summary is that I thought blogs were always a product and had not considered a blog being used to support a product.  I was very surprised by the company Caterpillar’s blog.  I wrote a review of that blog here, so I won’t go into too much detail, but I will say that Caterpillar demonstrates how a company that is involved in an industry that is in no way related to information technology can utilize a blog to great effect. 

Twitter was something familiar to me prior to these last two weeks.  I have used Twitter a very small amount, but I do think it offers some benefits to companies.  I am a pretty avid gamer and in today’s gaming world a game is rarely complete when it launches.  What I mean by this is that most developers continue to release updates for bugs or additional content after a game has launched.  Twitter has been used to great effect by many developers who use the service to update their followers on update schedules or on links to forums or websites with more detailed information.

The last two weeks didn't really change my opinion of Twitter as I was already aware of some of its possible uses.  I definitely learned quite a bit about corporate blogging though and feel I have a better understanding of how it can be applied.  I discussed how I might utilize blogging for my own business here.

Electronic Communication

   It is important to learn about electronic communication and its advances in order to maintain a grasp on communication in the business environment. From texting, through blogging it is vital to not only communicate effectively, and frequently, but also electronically. Email is important to virtually everyone in some form in the business and social worlds, but the social media aspect has rendered even email a seldom used form of communication in some workplaces. Podcasting has been all the rage, as hard as it is to combine speaking ability and preparation, and can be very effective to reach a group of people and convey your message. Wikis have caught on with many different companies as a way to "catalog" feedback so that employees and customers can mine the data for what they may be seeking. I had never tweeted til recently and can tell this is a most effective way to reach an audience. Having just a short sweet statement on a frequent basis can help a businessperson keep past and potential customers up to the minute on how things are going. Electronic communication has completely changed almost every facet of customer relations and constantly changed within itself as well, new ways, sites, angles are developed quickly in the information age we live in. It is best to find a medium the business itself feels works best for what it want to communicate. Considering ones audience is vital and utilizing multiple sources can only help spread he message both internally to employees but in external ways as well, thus creating a better relationship at all levels of a business.