Text should enhance talk, not replace it.

I read several articles over the weekend about how today's Facebook and Twitter environment is changing the way we communicate. It seems hardly anyone writes or worse yet, talks anymore. Far easier to just make a post on your PDA or Computer.

It's all great stuff--a fun and ultra-fast way to share quips, stories, information, pictures and video. But it changes the way we communicate because the technology detaches us from each other. We're not machines--we're humans who should use machines to enhance interaction with each other, but not replace it.

Back in the early 90's my newsroom became one of the first to put away the typewriters and computerize our news gathering. It made us more efficient and able to do more in less time. But a strange thing happened as the news department started to use the e-mail functions to communicate with each other.

It's a high stress environment and very competitive. I started to notice small little arguments blossom into full blown e-conflicts. Things were written that normally no one would say face to face. It was something I quickly had to get a handle on. The next newsroom I led through the process also went through the same "adjustment."

Two decades later I'm working with a team on a major project set for this spring. The core team are all very e-savvy and we do most of our communications electronically as we plan and execute strategies. At a recent face to face meeting of the team however, we all agreed that all the e-mails flying back and forth tended to confuse rather than illuminate. We've made it policy to meet as a group in person along with routine e-mail communications. Meeting which are set-up electronically via Meetup.

You can have it both ways, and we should.

Social Media allows us to communicate and market like never before and I'm an enthusiastic ambassador for it. Ultimately though, let's not forget that it's hard to beat talking one-on-one to truly communicate. It's important we never stop looking each other in the eye once in a while and communicate what hopefully what won't be an old-fashioned way. Face to face.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"