Technologys Influence on Interpersonal Communication

Introduction

Technology advancement has made it possible for easy communication amongst a large number of people. One such technological application is the use of the internet which provides for the Web based social network services, this makes easy for the connection of people in order to share the interests and most of the activities across the political, economical, and geographical borders. These services include e-mail and the instant messaging, the Facebook and many other social networking tools that are increasingly becoming the object of scholarly research due to the possibility of permanent replacement of the face-to-face communication.

Technology offers fast communication

In business, a popular application for this new technology is the social networking between businesses. Most Companies have developed interest in social networking sites such as the Facebook and Twitter, these offers great ways which enables them to build their brand images. According to Fraser & Dutta, (2008) businesses use the social media for; creating the brand awareness, recruitment, competition, learning about new technological advancement, and the interception of the potential prospects. Technology enables companies to drive traffic to their online sites thereby encouraging the consumers and the clients to discuss on the improvement or the products or services.

The Science communities make use of the social networking sites to share and exchange the scientific knowledge. Sharing information and the knowledge enables them to increase their learning and flexibility, which is not possible within a self-contained environment. Social networking allows the scientific groups to quickly expand their knowledge base and share the ideas; absence of the technological means of communicating can cause the scientific theories to be "isolated and irrelevant".

Teachers and students use Social networks as a communication tool. Many students uses several free social networking sites in the market today. While, Teachers and the professors attempting to create chat-room forums and the groups to broaden the classroom discussion, post assignments, give the tests and quizzes. Social networks are used in communications between parents/teachers. These sites make it more convenient for parents to ask and voice their concerns without having the need for meeting face-to-face.

Activists also use the Social networks as a low-cost grassroots organization. A good example is the 2009, where widely use of several networking sites would enable the organization of, "National Equality March." Which mobilized an estimate of 200,000 participants to march on the Washington streets at a cost savings of almost 85% per participant?

Face-to-face communication is becoming a thing of the past. A computerized system that has been networked provides a variety of linkage services that assists the users in locate, and establish the contact relationships with, other users. Identification in this case is based on users' affiliations with particular schools or organizations. These systems also provides a mechanism which enables the user to selectively establish the contact relationships or the connections with other users, it also grants the permissions for other users to view the availed personal information of users. The systems used might also be configured automatically to notify the users about the personal information updates that have been made by their respective contacts.

These social networks provide a different means of communication and platform which individuals communicate between them selves using digital means which were not there before implementation of communication technology. Such communities which are using digital means of communication are extensively sharing of the information and the ideas, these concepts are mostly placed in a digital environment.

Dating applications, The traditional face-to -face dating has been replaced by the social networks that provide conducive online environment for two people to extensively communicate and exchange the necessary personal information for the purposes of dating. In this case, the Intentions vary from the idea of looking for a one time date, the short-term, and the long-term relationships. Social networks are not necessarily for dating, users also use it for keeping a close touch with their friends, and the colleagues (Setzekorn & Romm-Livermore, 2008).

Educational applications, Social networks have also substituted the classroom face-to-face communication and are now being used for learning, development of the professional educators, and for content sharing.