Tension Between Social Media & Technical Communicators
@tamuccrhetoric
After completing my reading on Webber (2013), Firth (2016), and Lam and Hanna’s (2016) articles, I noted a few specific changes and tensions that social media has created for technical communicators as well as businesses and companies in general.
One specific tension that has manifested within companies over social media, is the use of social media by employees. For instance, Weber (2013) described the issues Dominos faced when their employees posted a video on YouTube acting out vile behaviors with the pizzas. In this example, it is clear that companies now not only have to worry about how their employees are representing the company in their physical actions, but also in their online actions in front of multiple audiences. In order to counteract problems like the Dominos YouTube issue, companies introduced “social media policies” that have been referred to by other writers, Herndl and Licona, as constrained agencies (Weber, 2013, p. 290). Though intended to prevent problematic situations like Dominos, Weber (2013) points out how these constrained agencies offer contradictory rules for their employees, such as requiring employees express themselves while maintaining a “corporate-friendly voice” (291). Thus, though the employee can speak as themselves, their expressed discourse must still align with the company’s values or policies, causing a tension for the technical communicator.
Firth (2016) brings up another possible tension for technical communicators specifically in terms of social media basically removing the need for their communication skills. Since there are so many “how to” YouTube videos and other social media outlets, Firth (2016) examines the concern that social media outlets will communicate in place of the technical communicator. However, this does not necessarily mean that social media popularity is a problem, but rather, a way that technical communicators may need to evolve in order to fit the changing ways of communicating (Firth, 2016). Specifically, Firth (2016) examines the ways in which technical communicators can succeed in this evolving field of communication through online help forums. In this, Firth shows that social media use is not so much a tension but a way that communicators can adapt and learn how to best present communication and design in the online format.
While Firth (2016) points out the ways in which technical communicators can adapt and make the best of social media to help people with their problems and concerns, Lam and Hanna (2016) examine the problems that Twitter faces as a “help desk” or technical support outlet. For instance, though many people use Twitter to ask questions, Lam and Hanna assert that many are using it as a place to complain. Lam and Hanna (2016) use Twitter specifically for their study because of the fact that Twitter is a social media outlet that does not require one to have a relationship or knowledge of the specific user, since anyone can look for and find Tweets. One of Lam and Hanna’s (2016) particularly interesting points came in their examination of customer’s speech acts. In examining the data, they found that the success rate applied to customers who were directive, specifically asking for help, rather than simply asserting that they were upset with the product (2016). Though this may seem like an obvious fact, I found this very interesting since it shows how social media both helps customers with their authentic questions as well as hinders productive conversation through a clutter of complaints.
Overall, I think the articles brought up important aspects of the changing roles of communication and how social media causes tensions as well as provides feedback and help to those that ask for it. I believe, ultimately, these articles show that as social media evolves, technical communicators are going to need to evolve and update their ways of communicating. Furthermore, there is still much improvement to be done in order to navigate the communication between customers that authentically ask for help and those that are simply complaining with no real intent to provide constructive criticism.