Improving and Changing Communication

People are trying to figure out the best and easiest way to improve how we communicate – forums vs. blogs vs. wikis vs. email. I’ve spent some time thinking about this and the best I can come up with is that each one is better for different things.

1. Blogging is all about the identity of a person or a group. Someone who “meets” that person or that group through their blog should get a good idea of what they’re currently talking about and what’s important to them. Blogging is also used for sharing and distributing knowledge.
2. Wikis are for shared information and collaborative documentation.
3. Email is useful for direct communication but sharing information between a large group via email gets unwieldy and awkward.
4. Forums have been around for a long time and many people are comfortable communicating this way. Group voice is the forum’s real advantage. With so many authors, the forum or message board usually has someone with just the information you need.

What are the Differences Between Message Boards and Weblogs?

Lee Lefever says “Worlds are colliding, people. Your friendly neighborhood message board is not alone in the online community world any longer.”

He has a nice comparison of forums and blogs and believes they are different enough to happily exist together in the same online community web site.

One commenter says “The fact that there’s variety and plenty of choices does nothing but good for all of us and the best way to learn is to jump in and get your feet wet.”

Read this blog message for a funny boxing match comparison between forums and blogs: DeathMatch: Bad, Bad Leroy Blog vs. Mean Mr. Message Board Submitted by leelefever on June 7, 2005 – 10:46am.