Which of the following compositional modes function as miniature versions of documents?

Echoing the shift from the Web’s 1.0’s unidirectional model to Web 2.0’s interactive, conversational model, Bovee & Thill call this new approach Business Communication 2.0.

Students can succeed with written communication in social media by using one of eight compositional modes when they write:

Conversations. IM in a great example of a written medium that mimics spoken conversation. The ability to think, compose, and type relatively quickly is important to maintaining the flow of an electronic conversation.

Comments and critiques. One of the most powerful aspects of social media is the opportunity for interested parties to express opinions and provide feedback, whether it’s leaving comments on a blog post or reviewing products on an e-commerce site. Sharing helpful tips and insightful commentary is also a great way to build a personal brand. To be an effective commenter, focus on short chunks of information that a broad spectrum of other site visitors will find helpful.

Orientations. With vast amounts of information presented in so many different formats, the Internet can be an extremely confusing place, even for knowledgeable professionals. The ability to help people find their way through an unfamiliar system or subject is a valuable writing skill, and a talent that readers greatly appreciate. Unlike summaries, orientations don’t give away the key points in the collection of information but rather tell readers where to find those points. Writing effective orientations can be a delicate balancing act because you need to know the material well enough to guide others through it while being able to step back and view it from the inexperienced perspective of a “newbie.”

Summaries. A summary can serve several purposes: At the beginning of an article or webpage, it may serve as a miniature version of the document. In other instances, the up-front summary may help a reader decide whether to invest the time needed to read the full document. At the end of an article or webpage, a summary functions as a review.

Reference materials. One of the greatest benefits of the Internet is the access is can provide to vast quantities of reference materials—numerical or textual information that people typically don’t read in a linear sense but rather search through to find particular data points, trends, or other specific elements. One of the challenges of writing reference material is you can’t always know how readers will want to access it. Making the information accessible via search engine is an important step. However, readers don’t always know which search terms will yield the best results, so it's important to include an orientation and organize the material in logical ways with clear headings that promote skimming.

Narratives. The storytelling techniques we cover can be effective in a wide variety of situations, from company histories to product reviews and demonstrations. We teach students that narratives work best when they have an intriguing beginning that piques a reader’s curiosity, a middle section that moves quickly through the challenges that an individual or company faced, and an inspiring or instructive ending that gives readers information they can apply in their own lives and jobs.

Teasers. Teasers intentionally withhold key pieces of information as a way to pull readers or listeners into a story or other document. Teasers are widely used in marketing and sales messages, such as a bit of copy on the outside of an envelope that promises important information on the inside. In electronic media, the space limitations and URL linking capabilities of Twitter and other microblogging systems make them a natural tool for the teaser approach. While they can certainly be effective, teasers need to be used sparely and with respect for readers’ time and intelligence. The payoff, the information a teaser links to, should be valuable and legitimate; otherwise, you'll quickly lose credibility if readers think they are being tricked into clicking through to information they don’t really want.

Status updates and announcements. If a person uses social media frequently, much of the writing will involve status updates and announcements. Being mindful of a criticism frequently leveled at personal users of social media will help you be a more effective business user of these media—namely, don’t post trivial information that only you are likely to find interesting. Post only those updates that readers will find useful, and include only the information they need. Tutorials. Given the community nature of social media, the purpose of many messages is to share how-to advice. One of the biggest challenges with tutorials is gauging the level of understanding the target readers have about the subject so the writing can be at the appropriate level. Are the readers beginners, experts, or somewhere in between? In addition, the writer needs to make assumptions clear so readers can tell if the information is right for them. A good place to do this is in the titles, using phrases such as “getting started with” or “advanced techniques for” to alert readers about the level of the tutorial. Whatever level of information is provided, the advice needs to be clear, complete, and logically organized.

So hopefully, after watching the two media pieces on Social Media, you now

• Know the difference between social media and electronic communication,
• Can describe how social media is changing how we communicate,
• Understand how a new business might use social media, and
• Understand how the different compositional modes are used in writing for social media

As you can see, electronic and social media are powerful business communication tools!

[End of Audio]

Which of the following is a compositional mode?

Which of the following combines the media richness of voice or visual communication with the convenience of portability?

Which of the following intentionally withholds key pieces?

What is a public general purpose network?