The internet has opened tremendous opportunities in virtual
communication enabling groups to communicate across great distances with little
expense and effort. Three common means of group communication in the virtual
world are: email discussions, threaded discussions and live chats. Each of
these methods of virtual communication have their advantages and disadvantages.
Email discussion and threaded discussion allow for the possibility of
asynchronous communication among numerous participants. However they also have
several draw backs in organization. Rather than following a single stream of
thought, emails and threads can take in divergent paths that can hamper
communication on the whole as one or more individuals may not keep up with the
overall flow of conversation. Threaded discussions at this point have the
advantage over email of compressed outlines where the different paths of the
conversations can be traced. However, a threaded discussion requires an online
platform in which all participants are members whereas an email discussion
allows anyone with an email address to participate.
Unlike threaded discussions and email discussions, live
chats are synchronous conversations in which all participants are active in the
“chat” at the same time. An advantage of this type of virtual communication is
the near instantaneous response one receives in the conversation where in the
other two methods the response can be delayed by hours or days. A disadvantage
to the live chat is that the conversation must be scheduled with all the
participants and may require some to participate at odd hours such as in the
middle of the night depending on the distance and number of time zones being
crossed.
Overall, the internet has greatly increased the ability of
organizations to communicate locally and globally. They can communicate asynchronously
through email discussion or threaded discussions or can use real time live
chats to connect individuals across town or around the globe in near
simultaneous communication.
