This document summarizes lecture notes and chapters from two books on digital communication and storytelling. It discusses how digital communication combines elements of written and spoken language. Features of digital language depend on factors like technology and social group. While some fear new media may degrade language, in reality formality often replaces casualness. Gender and culture also influence digital communication, with women and cultural groups developing online identities and language. The document concludes with tips for using storytelling when writing about brands, focusing on using true, human stories that solve customers' problems.

1. Week 12 Lecture Notes
COM325
Personal Connections: pages 71 – 80 (part of chap 3)
Everybody Writes: Part 3: Sections 41- 44 (pages 121 - 138)

2. Digital
Communication
 Is a mixed modality hybrid language combining
communication practices from face-to-face
communication and written communication.
 Is described as the “interactive written register.”
 Combines elements of written and oral languages.
Email, IM, and text messages look more like writing
than speech, but mediated interaction resembles oral
conversation.
 Has features distinctive to the digital medium such as
a potentially large but unspecified audience, the speed
of communication, the rapid change of topics resulting
from turn-taking that changes original messages.

3. DigitalLanguage
 The digital language used depends on:
 The technology
 The purpose of the interaction
 The norms of the group
 The communication of the speaker’s social group offline
 The idiosyncrasies of individuals
 There is no standardized digital language
 Not all textual digital media are alike; people adapt
according to the need and use with the other party

4. Fears:Changes
Resultingfrom
Digital
Communication
 Language decay into informality and casualness is
anticipated
 Writing standards decline because proofreading is not
done because of speed and volume of communication
 Digital tools make people likely to take shortcuts with
their editing
 People lose skills for communication face-to-face
 Fear of language decay is unfounded, and this fear is
the standard response to new media
 True pattern: Formality increasingly replaces
casualness as the medium is domesticated

5. Contextual
Influences:
Gender
 Online communication is shaped by gender
 Gender rules and expectations are different for men
and women
 People reinforce gender by how they communicate
 Women are socialized to focus on relational dimensions
 Men are socialized to focus on informative dimensions
 Messages by women are likely to include qualifications,
justification, apologies, and expressions of support.
 Messages by men are likely to include factually
oriented language, calls to action, less self-disclosure,
and fewer attempts at tension prevention.

6. Contextual
Influences:Culture
 Culture includes nationality, language, race, and ethnicity
 Race is not a focus of online identity, but interest groups form
around race.
 Example: Black Twitter is the use of hashtags to identify and
connect as African-Americans.
 Cultural identity shows up in the language people use
 Online writing uses the ASCII character set, restricting language
to the Latin alphabet. Unicode now allows other alphabets and
emojis
 In 2004, 38 % of Internet users spoke English, 11.2 % of Internet
users spoke Chinese, Japanese, Korean; 1 % of Internet users
spoke Arabic
 In 2014, more than half of the 69 million blogs at WordPress were
in English
 The languages of wealthy countries populate the Internet, so some
say the Internet continues colonization of poor nations by rich
nations

7. Story
 Story is about how a business or a product exists in the
real world
 Is about how the product or company adds value to
others
 A compelling brand gives the audience a way to
connect to the company or product
 The key is to tell a true story well
 Role of the writer is to tell the brand story in an
interesting way that relates to the customer

8. Characteristics
ofaStory
 It is true: Features real people, genuine emotions
 It is human: Focus on how the product touches people
 It is original: Fresh perspective, right voice and tone
 It serves the customer: The telling uses the context of
the customer’s life
 It tells a bigger story: Alignment of story with long-
term strategic goals is critical

9. Tipsfor
Storytelling
 Use analogy instead of example, don’t create an ad,
create a world
 Find the voice: an expression of the company’s
personality and point of view
 Tone can change but voice is consistent. Tone conveys
emotion and feeling
 Ask the 10 diagnostic questions on pages 126-127 of
Everybody Writes, especially “what problem is this
product trying to solve?”

10. References
 Baym, N. (2015). Personal connections in the digital
age (2nd ed). Malden, MA: Polity Press.
 Handley, A. (2014). Everybody writes: Your go-to guide
to creating ridiculously good content (2nd ed.). Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley.