COMMUNICATION

AND TECHNOLOGY
Communication in Social Media
– There are various modes through which we communicate with each other.
– In the past, these modes took the form of handwritten messages, typewritten
messages, short telegrams, computer-encoded texts, as well as landline
telephone conversations, and audio/ video-recorded messages. Because each
mode of communication is distinct from the other, the ways in which we craft
our messages differ.
– Today, with the rapid rise and spread of Internet connectivity, the old forms of
communication have given way to new forms that make communication easier
and faster.
PINOY TOP SOCIAL MEDIA
USERS, ACCORDING TO STUDY

– Miguel R. Camus (2017)

(1) Filipinos spend more time on social media sites than anyone else
in the world, going online roughly four hours and 17 minutes a
day, according to a report released on Tuesday.
(2) Filipinos spend most of their online time on sites such as
Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, said the report, called Digital in
2007, and prepared by social media platform Hootsuite and
United Kingdom-based consultancy We Are Social Ltd.
US AMONG BOTTOM HALF
(3) Brazilians and Argentinians followed closely behind, spending three
hours and 43 minutes and three hours and 32 minutes on social
media, respectively, the report said.
(4) The United States, where many of these social media players were founded, is
among the bottom half, with Americans spending an average of juts two hours and
six seconds per day. The least active were the Japanese, who log on an average of
just 40 minutes daily.
(5) “It’s probably due to the same cultural dynamics that made us the text
messaging capital of the world,” said Ramon Isberto, spokesperson for telecoms
giant PLDT and Smart, referring to mobile phone text messaging in the past decade
that is now giving way to internet-based applications
(6) “Filipinos like to keep in touch,” Isberto said.

SLOWEST IN ASIA-PACIFIC
(7) The Philippines’ social media usage was in stark contrast to its internet speed.
Fixed-broadband speed here is among the slowest in Asia-Pacific, while mobile
connections are among the fastest, according to the most recent Akamai report.
(8) There appeared to be a relationship between poor fixed-broadband speed and
time spent on social media.
INTERNET USE ON THE RISE
(11) According to the report, the Philippines’ internet and social media users grew
by over 25 percent, up 13 million and 12 million over last year, respectively.
(12) Mobile was also a fast-growing platform, accounting for 38 percent of all Web
traffic in the country, up almost a third over 2016.
(13) The Philippines, so far, had a social media penetration rate of 58 percent,
higher than the average of 47 percent in Southeast Asia.
(14) Around the world, internet users grew 10 percent, or an additional 354 million
people, while active social media users jumped 21 percent, or an additional 482
million.
(15) Global active netizens using mobile phones and other devices surged 30
percent, or another 581 million people.

DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY
(16) The total internet penetration rate stood at 50 percent, 3.77 billion people,
the report showed.
(17) “Half of the world’s population is now online, which is a testament to the
speed with which digital connectivity us helping to improve people’s lives,” said
Simon Kemp, a consultant at We Are Social.
(18) “The increase in internet users in developing economies is particularly
encouraging,” Kemp added.
(19) The report compiles data from the world’s largest studies of online behavior,
conducted by organizations including GlobalWebIndex, GSMA Intelligence, Statista
and Akamai in “a comprehensive state” of social media reference.
(20) The 2016 report ha been downloaded 70, 000 times and read 2.5 million on
SlideShare so far.
INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION AND
GLOBALIZATION

THE GLOBALIZATION PHENOMENON

1. Globalization
2. Global
What is Globalization anyway?
– Alex Gray (World Economic Forum, 2017
HOW GLOBALIZATION WORKS
(1) In simple terms, globalization is the process by which people and goods move
easily across borders. Principally, it’s an economic concept – the integration of
markets, trade and investments with few barriers to slow the flow of products
and services between nations. There is also a cultural element, as ideas and
traditions are traded and assimilated.
(2) Globalization has brought many benefits to many people. But not everyone.
STORM IN A COFFEE CUP
(3) To help explain the economic side of globalization, let’s take a look at the well-
known coffee chain Starbucks.
(4) The first Starbucks outlet opened its doors in 1971 in the city of Seattle. Today it
has 15,000 stores in 50 countries. These days you can find a Starbucks anywhere,
whether Australia, Cambodia, Chile, or Dubai. It’s what you might call a truly
globalized company.
(5) And for many suppliers and jobseekers, not to mention coffee-drinkers, this was
a good thing. The company was purchasing 247 million kilograms of unroasted
coffee from 29 countries. Through its stores and purchases, it provided jobs and
income for hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.
(6) But then disaster struck. In 2012, Starbucks made headlines after Reuters
investigation showed that the chain hadn’t paid much tax to the UK government,
despite having almost a thousand coffee shops in the country and earning millions
of pounds in profit there.
(7) As a multinational company, Starbucks was able to use complex accounting
rules that enabled it to have profit earned in one country taxed in another. Because
the latter country had a lower tax rate, Starbucks benefited. Ultimately, the British
public missed out, as the government was raising less tax to spend on improving
their well-being.
HOW DID GLOBALIZATION
HAPPEN?

(8) We might think of globalization as a relatively new phenomenon, but it’s been
around for centuries.
(9) One example is the Silk Road, when trade spread rapidly between China and
Europe via an overland route. Merchants carried goods for trade back and forth,
trading silk as well as gems and spices and, of course, coffee. (In fact, the habit of
drinking coffee in a social setting originates from a Turkish custom, an example of
how globalization can spread culture across borders.)
WHAT DRIVES IT?
(10) Globalization has speeded up enormously over the last half-century, thanks to
great leaps in technology.
(11) The internet has revolutionized connectivity and communication, and helped
people share their ideas much more widely, just as the invention of the printing
press did in the 15th century. The advent of email made communication faster than
ever.
(12) The invention of enormous container ships helped too. In fact, improvements
in transport generally – faster ships, trains and airplanes – have allowed us to move
around the globe much more easily.
WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT?
(13) Globalization has led to many millions of people being lifted out of poverty.
(14) For example, when a company like Starbucks buys coffee from farmers in
Rwanda, it is providing a livelihood and a benefit to the community as a whole. A
multinational company’s presence overseas contribute to those local economies
because the company will invest in local resources, products and services. Socially
responsible corporations may even invest in medical and educational facilities.
(15) Globalization has not only allowed nations to trade with each other, but also
to cooperate with each other as never before. Take the Paris Agreement on Climate
Change, for instance, where 195 countries all agreed to work towards reducing
their carbon emissions for the greater global good.
WHAT’S BAD ABOUT IT?
(16) While some areas have flourished, others have floundered as jobs and
commerce move elsewhere. Steel companies in the UK, for example, once thrived,
providing work for hundreds of thousands of people. But when China began
producing cheaper steel, steel plants in the UK closed down and thousands of jobs
were lost.
(17) Every step forward in technology brings with it new dangers. Computers have
vastly improved our lives, but cyber criminals millions of pounds a year. Global
wealth has skyrocketed, but so has global warming.
(18) While many have been lifted out of poverty, not everybody has benefited.
Many argue that globalization operates mostly in the interests of the richest
countries, with most of the world’s collective profits flowing back to them and into
the pockets of those who already own the most.
(19) Although globalization is helping to create more wealth in developing
countries, it is not helping to close the gap between the world’s poorest and
richest nations.
(20) Basically, done wisely (in the words of the International Monetary Fund)
globalization could lead to “unparalleled peace and prosperity.” Done poorly, “to
disaster.”
THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION
ON COMMUNICATION
As more people cross borders because of globalization, more
language contact happens, making communication more challenging.

TASK:
VIEW A VIDEO OR LISTEN TO AN AUDIO-RECORDING TITLED THE
EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON GLOBAL COMMUNICATION BY
NIKOLAY DANEV.
LOCAL AND GLOBAL
COMMUNICATION IN
MULTICULTURAL
SETTINGS
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATING ACROSS CULTURES by Carol Kinsey Goman

(2011)

(1) Communicating across cultures is challenging. Each culture has set rules that
its members take for granted. Few of us are aware of our own cultural biases
because cultural imprinting begun at a very early age. And while some of a
culture’s knowledge, rules, beliefs values, phobias, and anxieties are taught
explicitly, most of the information is absorbed subconsciously.
(2) The challenge for multinational communication has never been greater.
Worldwide business organizations have discovered that intercultural
communication is a subject of importance – not just because on increased
globalization, but also because their domestic workforce is growing more and more
diverse, ethically and culturally.
(3) We are all individuals, and not two people belonging to the same culture are
guaranteed to respond in exactly the same way. However, generalizations are valid
to the extent that they provide clues on what you will most likely encounter when
dealing with members of a particular culture.
HIGH CONTEXT VS. LOW CONTEXT
(4) All international communication is influenced by cultural differences. Even the
choice of communication medium can have cultural overtones. The determining
factor may not be the degree of industrialization, but rather whether the country
falls into a high context or low context culture.
(5) High context cultures (Mediterranean, Slav, Central European, Latin American,
African, Arab, Asian, American-Indian) leave much of the message unspecified, to
be understood through context, nonverbal cues, and between-the-lines
interpretation of what is actually said. By contrast, low context cultures (most
Germanic and English- speaking countries) expect messages to be explicit and
specific.
SEQUENTIAL VS. SYNCHRONIC
(6) Some cultures think of time sequentially, as a linear commodity to “spend,”
“save,” or “waste.” Other cultures view time synchronically, as a constant flow to
be experienced in the moment, and as a force that cannot be contained or
controlled.
(7) In sequential cultures (like North America, English German, Swedish, and
Dutch), businesspeople give full attention to one agenda item after another.
(8) In synchronic cultures (including South America, southern Europe and Asia) the
flow of time is viewed as a sort of circle, with the past, present and future all
interrelated. This viewpoint influences how organizations in those cultures
approach deadlines, strategic thinking, investments, developing talent from within,
and the concept of long-term planning.
(9) Orientation to the past, present, and future is another aspect of time in which
cultures differ. Americans believe that the individual can influence the future by
personal effort, but since there are too many variables in the distant future, we
favor a short-term view. Synchronistic cultures’ context is to understand the
present and prepare for the future. Any important relationship is a durable bond
that goes back and forward in time, and it is often viewed as grossly disloyal not to
favor friends and relatives in business dealings.
AFFECTIVE VS. NEUTRAL
(10) In international business practices, reason and emotion both play a role.
Which of these dominates depends upon whether we are affective (readily
showing emotions) or emotionally neutral in our approach. Members of neutral
cultures do not telegraph their feelings, but keep them carefully controlled and
subdued. In cultures with high affect, people show their feelings plainly by
laughing, smiling, grimacing, scowling and sometimes crying, shouting, or walking
out of the room.
(11) This doesn’t mean that people in neutral cultures are cold or unfeeling, but in
the course of normal business activities, neutral cultures are more careful to
monitor the amount of emotion they display. Emotional reactions were found to
be least acceptable in Japan, Indonesia, the UK, Norway, and the Netherlands and
most accepted in Italy, France, the US and Singapore.
(12) Reason and emotion are part of all human communication. When expressing
ourselves, we look to others for confirmation of our ideas and feelings. If our
approach is highly emotional, we are seeking a direct emotional response: “I feel
the same way.” if our approach is highly neutral, we want an indirect response: “I
agree with your thoughts on this.”
(13) It’s easy for people from neutral cultures to sympathize with the Dutch
manager and his frustration over trying to reason with “that excitable Italian.” after
all, and idea either works or it doesn’t work, and the way to test the validity of an
idea id through trial and observation. That just makes sense - doesn’t it? Well, not
necessarily to the Italian who felt the issue was deeply personal and who viewed
any “rational argument” as totally irrelevant!
(14) When it comes to communication, what’s proper and correct in one culture
may be ineffective or even offensive in another. In reality, no culture is right or
wrong, better or worse – just different. In today’s global business community, there
is no single best approach to communicating with one another. The key to cross-
cultural success is to develop an understanding of, and a deep respect for the
differences.