Communication and Globalization PDF

# Communication and Globalization ## Chapter 2 At the end of this chapter, the students will be able to: - Define global communication and its emergence - Analyze the impact of globalization to communication and the great challenges it offers - Assess the imbalance of global communication feature...

# Communication and Globalization ## Chapter 2 At the end of this chapter, the students will be able to: - Define global communication and its emergence - Analyze the impact of globalization to communication and the great challenges it offers - Assess the imbalance of global communication features and how this can be resolved - Discuss the power of information and communication technology (ICT) in making global communication a reality - Identify social media applications, their uses, and functions in global communication - Evaluate and compare social media capabilities with other types of industrial and mass media - Examine and identify motives leading to the proper use of social media for effective communication "The emergence of IT and social media is changing the way we communicate globally and the way we are perceived, both positively and negatively; every time you post a photo, or update your status, you are contributing to your own digital footprint and personal brand." - Amy Jo Martin ## Introduction The dynamism of communication today is the major catalyst for human activity, mass consumption, and participation in global life. It has become the basis for understanding across vast distances and barriers of space and time. The current era has allowed access of resources that facilitate borderless communication as part of the establishment of intercultural relationships among different nations. ## Crafting Messages with Intentions The world phenomenon called globalization can be defined in various ways: - The disappearance of borders between nations and the rise and increase of international relations - The similarity of values among different cultures - Everybody and everything together. International communication plays a great role in the process of globalization. The impact of globalization on cross-cultural communication is imperative to a society becoming more and more globally connected. In this regard, the use of technology reinforces how the people of the world communicate globally, particularly in sharing or offering products and services. Communication is a vital tool of expression to fulfill basic needs and understand each other to prevent misunderstandings caused by personal biases, prejudices, and constraints of distance and time in the context of globalization. ## Impact of Globalization: A Challenge to Communication The process of communication always plays a significant role in human life. It has been utilized even prior to the time of human civilization when cave writings were first discovered. The first form of communication was only at the intrapersonal level, which later evolved into the interpersonal. Then, people started to consider a wider audience, which led to group communication, organization communication, and then eventually to mass communication. At the turn of the 21st century, developments in science and information technology provided tools such as emails, internet, fax machines, phones, mobile devices, and television, which made communication easier, foster, and more reliable. At present, it takes no time to communicate from one corner of the world to another. Globalization saw the world become integrated with the modern infrastructures of communication and information technology, Globalization now deals with the interconnectedness of the people in a global scale. As a result, countries become witness to the cultures of other countries. The impact of globalization on communication also poses a great challenge among nations which are far apart. According to Ingram (2017), global connection in a virtual world require people to understand the dynamics of long-distance collaboration and the impact of culture on manners of speaking and body language, communicating with people on the other side of the globe through technology. Globalization gave birth to virtual communication which allows anytime-anywhere interaction even without actual face time. For instance, in sending an email to relatives, the sender and receiver may not necessarily be active online, at the same time, but the messages can still be sent and received. Another example is video conference calls through which people can still manage to see each other virtually even though they are far apart. Cultural awareness is important in global communication because it enables one to adjust when interacting with various groups of people. Thus, when communicating at the global level, one must know the nuances in people's language, expressions, and tone. For example, in Japanese culture, people are not expected to ask personal questions during first meetings. This is contrary to American culture in which people can share personal information to display warmth and openness even when meeting for the first time. Lastly, time is an important element in global communication-especially because different parts of the world are in different time zones. Even if communication can occur anytime and anywhere despite distances, there are still limitations especially when it comes to time. This can happens when people attempt to communicate with each other on the other side of the globe and their counterparts are usually at home asleep. ## Issue on the Imbalanced in Global Communication The ongoing debate among developing countries in the pursuit of globalization focuses on the fundamental issue of the imbalance in global communication. The playing field is not leveled as some poor countries are deprived of the benefits of technology. Developed nations are more advanced while developing nations' access to technology, as satellites are also dominated by developed nations. This phenomenon is called the "digital divide". Some parts of the world enjoy rich information media infrastructures, while the rest do not. Responding to the conditions of the developing world subjected to marginalization by satellite and computer technologies is a noble objective of the New International Information Orden (NWICO) that grew out of the New International Economic Order of 1947. This was the result of the creation of the MacBride Commission, a UNESCO panel chaired by Nouch Peace Prize Mureate Sean MacBride. This body put forward a set of recommendations to make global media representations more equitable. They also produced a report titled "Many Voices One World". To achieve balanced and equal distribution of communication resources, there is a need to flatten the playing field and break the digital divide. Communication also plays indeed played a vital role in the process globalization in the modification of learning and educational processes. Spurred by technological development, is seen in two stages: 1. The advent of electronic media like radio and television, 2. The birth of telematic networks and the internet that ushered the rise of the digital media referred to as information and communications technology (ICT)(Cornali & Tirocchi, 2012). ## The Power of ICT The word technology came from two Greek words techne and logos, which means “art,” “skill,” “craft,” or “manner” and “word” respectively. Everett Rogers (1986) defined technology as “a design for instrumental action that reduces the uncertainty in the cause-effect relationships involved in achieving a desired outcome.” Technology has both a hardware aspect (the material or physical ware) and a software aspect (the information base). In computers, the hardware consists of semi-conductors, electrical connection, and the metal frame; while its software consists of the coded instructions that enable users to utilize this tool. Both the software and hardware are essential aspects of the computer. Therefore, information and communication technology, otherwise known as ICT, is the combination of hardware equipment, organizational structures, and social values through which individuals collect, process, and exchange information with other individuals. This technology can be traced goes back to the beginning of human history since as the invention of the spoken language and early forms of writing such as the pictographs on the walls of primitive caves. Mass communication which focuses on that reaches wide audiences date back Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations through the use clay tablets, then later on through the discovery and invention of the papyrus. Technologies such as the movable-type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg did not actually reach a mass audience until the 1830s with the advent of the “penny press” in the United States. This development was followed by electronic media technologies like film, radio, and television which are mainly uni-directional, allowing one broadcast station to wide convey a message to wide an audience. In the 1980s, computer-based communication systems facilitated the exchange of information on a “many-to-many” basis. It has been termed as the “new communication,” “the new media,” or “interactive media.” This technology, serving as a “window to the world,” extends the senses and allow an individual to break the barriers of space and time, in the process of obtaining information. The key to communications technologies is electronics. The interactive nature of new communications is made possible by a computer element-not just a single technology but a combination of innovations like the use of satellites in order to deliver a wide variety of programming to cable TV systems (e.g., QUBE in Columbus, Ohio an experimental, multi programmed cable television system which several to have interactive function) through a computer at the head-end of the system. Global communication becomes possible with ICT connection which possesses the following characteristics (Rogers, 1986): 1. **Interactivity** - the capability of the system to “talk back” or respond immediately between people in active or passive conversations which can reach many individuals simultaneously, like a web which has multi-direction lines. 2. **De-massification** - the ability to transmit personalized messages to selected individuals from a large audience or network, as in sending an individualized message to a friend on Facebook. 3. **Asynchronicity** - the sending and receiving of messages at a time convenient to both the sender and receiver even without the presence of all participants; this communication becomes vital when needed most, like the use of automated teller machine (ATM) that allows deposits and withdrawals any time of the day without being hampered by banking hours. Technology is one of the greatest inventions of mankind. Its power it shapes and evolves society’s thoughts and ways of life. It serves as a tool to make lives more efficient. Those who know the appropriate application of technology in various fields have managed to make lives easier for themselves and for others. Its primary benefit lies on the proper use of the technology to offer good advantages to mankind, veering away from its the many possible disadvantages feared banality. Mankind, being the ruler of innovation and technology should always be ethical in using technological tools for them to remain beneficial. The invention of computers which led to further advancement in technology with through the creation of many more complex software and hardware. The telephone, fax machine, mobile devices, video conferencing, and the like are only few of the facilities that the human mind has conceived with the aid of technology. This eventually led to the transformation of the world into a "global village." Technology has showered mankind with multi-faceted benefits that have produced remarkable miracles in social interaction in the aspects of social media and communication through a virtual space. ## Social Media and Its Applications Social media refers to the web-based and mobile communication applications that lets people interact with each other and build networks. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein (2010) defined social media as a “group of internet-based applications that build on ideological and technological foundations allowing the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” This communication technique shapes the way organizations, communities, and even individuals express themselves. Social media take on many different forms, including online magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, podcasts, photographs, videos, ratings, and social bookmarking. The rise of social media is a key phenomenon which served as a tool to achieve global communication. By applying certain capabilities of ICT, particularly in social media (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure), Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) created a classification scheme for the different types of social media: 1. Collaborative projects (e.g., Wikipedia), and micro-blogs (e.g., Twitter) 2. Content communities (e.g., Youtube) 3. Social networking sites (e.g., Facebook) 4. Virtual game worlds (e.g., World of Warcraft) 5. Virtual social worlds (e.g., Second Life), and 6. Other technologies which include picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowd-sourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few. Many of these social media forms can be integrated via social network aggregation platforms. The seamless and timeless exchange of information and content through social media conquers time and space. Of all forms of social media, Facebook is the top social network on the web with over a billion users. In 2015, it held the first spot in the entire internet among sites people frequently use. Time can only tell just how long and what it might take for Facebook’s popularity to go downhill. According to a survey of 1,000 IT decision-makers and 4,000 users (Goodwin, 2013), 75% of companies use Facebook followed by Twitter with 51% in terms of preferences on what social media service is beneficial when it comes to building enterprise. While over 80% of companies rely on social media services, a quarter of decision-makers worry that social collaboration tools encourage employees to waste time and these tools distract them from their jobs. The research shows that nearly 88% of companies use web-based social media technologies in the workplace, but most do not integrate social media into their enterprise IT systems. According to Andy Hutchins, director of content and collaboration at Avanade in the U.K., there is a false sense of accomplishment in having social collaboration tools available because it does not necessarily result in an increase in business value (Goodwin, 2015). The inadequacy of training for social media users was one of the biggest barriers in using social media, coupled with the lack of IT resources were both cited by 26% of decision-makers. Hence, many organizations need to look into more serious functions of social media to further improve productivity. However, the positive effects of social media and other internet based social networks are worth mentioning with high impetus on documenting memories, learning and exploring things, advertising oneself and other objects, and forming friendships (Rainie & Wellman, 2012). While communication can be done more privately in real life, internet-based applications can improve content creation and provide networked individuals opportunities to reach wider audiences. A good example of the positive use of social media enables is in marketing. Social media small businesses to look for more customers who can interact with their brands through a network. A strong presence on the web can build a higher level interest that can pull in more possible customers. When implemented correctly, marketing through social media can bring remarkable success to any business. Content creation is a voluntary and participatory act. It is important that networked individuals create, edit, and manage content in collaboration with other networked individuals, such as in. This way, social media becomes a space for the-expansion of in expanding knowledge community blogs and the like. ## Crafting Messages with Intentions Since Facebook poses some risks of intruding into one’s privacy because of information sharing, it provides a policy to safeguard one’s identity and reputation. Its privacy policy (Facebook Privacy Policy, 2009) highlights that Facebook is designed to make it easy to share information with anyone. The decision on how much information can be comfortably shared must be controlled through privacy settings by reviewing the user’s preferences with what content and with who he or she is comfortable to share. Facebook is also a free service supported primarily by advertising and information sharing which cannot be done without the content owner’s consent. Advertisers may select the characteristics of users they want to show their advertisements to only if the information is voluntarily shared by users to advertisers. Facebook was infamously known for automatically setting information visible to public. It means that all photos, status updates, and data that one puts on the could be seen and accessed by anyone on the internet. Today, this is no longer the case, Facebook users’ posts will automatically be set to be visible to friends, meaning only friends on the website can see such information. This is an expansion of Facebook's. Privacy Checkup tool, which explains to people a little more about who can see their posts. In Privacy Checkup, current privacy settings can be seen and changed depending on the user’s preferences. Finally, Facebook is also making it easier to share posts with certain groups. From now on one can see exactly who sees his/her posts especially in groups. The most popular social networking sites have definitely changed over the years, and are expected to continue to evolve as times goes on. While there Facebook and Twitter continues to dominate in the web, there will be more developments in social media sites like MySpace and LiveJournal, especially with the recent shift toward mobile-based social media usage. ## Uses of Social Media: The 7 Cs Communication objectives can be met through, a diverse number of channels of social media from Facebook to WordPress to Flickr to Foursquare, and so on. But whatever channel is utilized, the decision to bring the social media idea to life and meet communication objectives is crucial. With this, it is important to take note the “7 Cs” of social media according to Richman: 1. **Communicating** - the “conveying of information” as the main function of social media. It allows users to share messages in multiple directions. At present, users of social media sites like Twitter can send messages globally in a short span of time; a phenomenon termed as “going viral.” 2. **Cause-support** - social media can help solve societal problems through and raise awareness regarding crusades like messages or support groups aimed to help calamity victims or empower and advocate a stand regarding an issue. It provides a "voice for the voiceless" and empowers vulnerable groups of society. 3. **Competitive** - since 2007, competitions and contests in social media has been a trend. Participation, judging process, and announcement of winners all happen with social media site for the competition themselves are dependent on the functions of sites like Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. 4. **Communication research** - social media can also be a venue for online or internet-based research. Certain topics can be further studied from different social media based resource databases. 5. **Connecting others** - social media matches people together based on similar interests. It also allows them to share off-site contact information in a conversation, with trained moderators for civil participation. 6. **Client service** - social media can be a place where people can market goods or even file complaint to companies. 7. **Community service** - social media creates a sense of community by "connecting others" by using shared interests to build communities without a third-party platform. ## Functions of Social Media According to Kietzmann et al. (2011), social media has seven functions: identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups. The honeycomb framework above shows each function as an important building block of communication. The following are the seven function. 1. **Identity** - The personal information is revealed such as age, status, gender; but sharing too much personal information may lead to certain risks. 2. **Conversation** - amount of information exchanged which can have various purposes and (to build self-esteem or to keep updated with new ideas or trending topics such as environmental problems, economic issues, social or political conflicts). 3. **Sharing** - the exchange, distribution, and reception of content. 4. **Presence** - the awareness of the presence of individuals in the network as they appear active in communication as social media users who can be from anywhere, whether active or latent application in the virtual or real world. 5. **Relationships** - how people in social media relate and connect another as friends, relatives, or schoolmates, or even as strangers. 6. **Reputation** - the level of trust among people in social media as they project themselves and their self-image in a virtual space; therefore, the users must know how to evaluate the credibility of other social media users. 7. **Groups** - the formed communities whose members belong to a certain aggrupation with common beliefs and interests, hence, agenda and membership are required in the interaction. According to this framework, most social media networks like Facebook is anchored on sharing, conversing, belonging in groups, being present and building reputation. ## Social Media Compared to Other Media Social media, as a modern means of transaction, possesses characteristics far different from other forms of industrial media like mass media and further channels of communication. While social media makes use of platforms such as blogs, vlogs, Facebook, and YouTube, traditional media formats are comprised TV, radio, brochures, tarpaulins, and emails. Social media are useful in many personal and professional situations with two main advantages: 1. **Virality** - the blend of technology and social interaction to achieve a wide reach in sharing and re-sharing content in social media. 2. **Accessibility** - an experience of uploading and downloading information and objects from social media by anyone, and the capability to reach the users whether as small or large audiences The keys differences between social media and other forms of industrial media are listed in the following table (Nigel, Jones, Hodges, 2012): | Criteria of Comparison | Social Media | Other Media | | :-------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Quality | Very high to low or abusive from high variance of quality | Mediated by the medium like quality control in publishing | | Reach | More decentralized with multiple points | Centralized structure for media infrastructure | | Frequency | No determined frequency in using social platforms | Occasional frequency like a TV program or news production | | Access | Generally available to public at little or no cost. | Typically government or corporate means of production are expensive. | | Usability | Mediated skills; anyone can operate tools of social media | Requires specialized skills and training | | Immediacy | Virtually instantaneous at high speed | Long time lag between media and messages | | Permanence | Can be altered immediately by comments and editing | Cannot be altered once created | Traditional media can be extremely expensive especially with the cost of airtime and space exacted in mass media production. In contrast, most social media platforms are completely free to use, the only cost is the time spent on updating profiles and interacting with contacts. Accessibility through free use is one of the initial benefits of social media. Social media promotes the creation and distribution of promotional materials such as articles, videos, and audios at less cost compared to what appears in the press, on the radio, or on TV. ## Crafting Messages with Intentions Social media contents can be easily revised, updated, altered, or supplemented unlike the TV and radio content. Amazingly, social media information can be posted in seconds. Devices make it possible for anyone to access social media applications immediately and ensure that his or her knowledge on current events is always up to date. Social media statistics are immediately measurable, whereas traditional media figures often need to be monitored over a long period of time. With social media, users can access messages, gauge user responses, and tweak messages accordingly. These actions can be done through the ever-growing number of free and easy-to-use social media measurement tools. Although millions are joining the bandwagon of social media, others are still a bit cautious of completely breaking away from traditional media and embracing social media. A very timely issue that is currently confronting social media is the emergence of fake news stories which are easily posted even without proper verification. Another breakthrough that has offered awariety of opportunities for social media communication is the invention of mobile gadgets. The devices can be adjusted based on aspects of location and time. Mobile social media applications offer data in two forms-Today, almost half of smartphone owners provides a social networking sites daily through their mobile application. The rapid rise of mobile devices provides a symbiotic relationship with social media among mobile consumers. Allowing social media usage inside in the classroom has been a controversial topic for the last several years. Many parents and educators are fearful of the repercussions of having social media in the classroom (Kist, 2012), yet it also has benefits. While, social media may allows students to manage their own privacy settings, the level of informality in Facebook can aid students in their self-expression and encourage more frequent and student-student interaction. Twitter like facebook, also promotes social connections among students. It can be used to enhance self-expression, critical thinking, and extend classroom discussions. Students reportedly use Twitter to connect with other students regarding lesson content. Finally, YouTube as the most frequently used social media tool in the classroom can help the students, answer questions, and discuss content through watching videos. Additionally, students can also create videos to share with others which also increases participation, personalization (customization), and productivity. YouTube, by improving students’ digital skills and providing opportunity for peer learning and problem solving keeps students' attention, generates interest in the subject, clarifies course content, and enables them to recall information and visualize real-world applications of course concepts. ## Proper Uses of Social Media With social media growing by leaps and bounds, users must be aware of proper decorum in online interactions to foster harmony in the use of powerful web tools. Some rules in using social media to prevent intrusion or putting others in harm's way (Deschene, 2011). are as follows: 1. **Know your intentions** - "Think before you click." Always be careful in giving attention, approval, criticism, opinion, or personal information. 2. **Be your authentic self** - develop or maintain a good sense of self when posting or sharing. Be authentic and communicate from the heart by truthfully talking about the things that really matter. 3. **If you tweet, be kind** - post your thoughts without harming others. Messages in social media must be assessed carefully before they are shared. 4. **Offer random tweets of kindness** - "Is there anything I can do to help or support?" is a question you may regularly ask on Twitter. Reach out to help a stranger. 5. **Experience now, share later** - It is common to snap a picture or a selfie and upload it immediately on Facebook or send it via email to a friend. However, this action negates the experience of being in the moment of sharing and establishing intimacy in real-life. 6. **Be active, not reactive** - when receiving updates or any type of alerts in social media accounts, whether a response is needed at all. Use your offline time to decide the value you can offer. 7. **Respond with full attention** - people often share links of third-party articles without actually reading them, or comment on posts after only scanning them without giving any or enough attention. The user must devote ample time to absorbs the subject and respond to make a difference. 8. **Use mobile social media sparingly** - Based on research, 43% of cell phone users access the internet on their devices several times a day, referring to it as continuous partial attention. Limit the use of mobile devices and social media so that important items in-life are not missed. 9. **Practice letting go** - it may feel unkind to disregard certain updates or tweets, but there is a need for downtime. You do not need to "catch up" on the latest updates every single minute. 10. **Enjoy social media** - use social media with a purpose. There are no hard-and-fast rules. Follow your own instincts and have fun with it. Be mindful of what technology can do. Social media must not interfere with work. When posting, your thoughts become public for the entire world to see; thus, be careful with anything you say online comments. It means that anything confidential or highly classified must not be discussed on social media. Treat colleagues with respect in both the physical world. Be clear and transparent. Moreover, using government logos or official insignia may imply that you are authorized to speak on behalf of the department. Inappropriate remarks could damage the reputation of an institution, a colleague, or your own. Always think twice because once a message is posted, there's no undoing button. In short, protect your privacy, respect the policy as well as the values and code of conduct that apply to you, and let someone know if things go wrong. ## Conclusion Global communication has shrunk the world into what has been described as a "global village" that overcomes the constraints of time and space. Now, communication can be done instantaneously from a particular origin to any part of the world easily and efficiently. This type of communication beyond borders gives no reason for transactions and transmission of messages within limited to the local territories. They can now be transmitted globally, just as if the sender and receiver of messages are "talking" in a small-room like in a video conference or Skype call among family members all over the world. This phenomenon is termed as "talk-nology." Long distance calls or emails to and from far-away locations are already old forms of global communication. Currently, social media has made significant strides in making global communication just a click away. Since communication is not only happening within a local or territory, the global reach of messages should imply responsible use of communication through technology. ## Activity 2 **Honeycomb Framework** **Instruction:** Identify the building block demonstrated in the following social media communication situations. Choose from any of the following. You may pick more than one building block. Use the corresponding letter(s) for your answer. - a. Identity - what personal information is shared - b. Conversations - how much is communicated - c. Sharing - how people exchange, distribute and receive content - d. Presence - how aware one is of others on the network - e. Relationships - how people develop relationship with others - f. Reputation - how people trust one another - g. Groups - how people form communities 1. Mr. A is from the United States and posted an information in the Web about hurricane Katrina. 2. A Filipino mother, working overseas worker in Saudi, had a Skype call with her son in the Philippines. 3. A Facebook post involving NASA spreading the rumor of "total darkness" for three days is a hoax, and had no scientific evidence. 4. A campaign for the "Help Yolanda Victims" project was posted on Facebook by the members of a volunteer committee tasked to generate funds for the relief drive. 5. A Facebook user takes pride in giving personal account of his achievements on Facebook like a promotion at work, the school he has attended, and awards he has received. 6. Betty and Linda are close friends in the chat room. Coming from different places, they had an exchange of pleasantries and a conversation on the recent trip of PNoy to the United States to visit Pres. Obama. 7. With nothing to talk about, Bert posted a video of an amazing duo of air dancers on Facebook. He was followed by Dan who also liked the post and shared it. 8. Dr. Santos, a college professor, gave an examination in the Yahoo! Group of the class. 9. Cousins Ellaine and Tricia, who had no contact for decades, suddenly found each other on Facebook and excitedly got into an exchange of news and greetings. 10. "Don't Judge her Prematurely" is a Facebook post about a woman who was working abroad and got into vices and illegal activities after her Filipino boyfriend cheated on her, took her money, and eloped with another woman.