The Importance of Context in Communication

Communication is something we learn very early as children.  Newborn infants are able to recognize the voice of their mother immediately on being born and react to it depending on what they want.  Babies have different cries to distinguish whether they are hungry, tired or need to be changed.  As we grow older, we learn to communicate not just with words, but with our body language, our intonation and even the speed at which we say things.

This is very normal.  We communicate with our parents a certain way.  We probably speak to our grandparents and other respected elderly people quite differently, with more respect and patience.  We speak to our children differently as well, depending on if the situation requires love, affection, patience, knowledge or discipline.

Outside of our families, we speak to people in the context of who they are.  You almost certainly speak to your boss at work with respect and patience because of the power dynamic involved.  They have control over your income and can affect it greatly.  This is very similar to how we speak to police or even border guards.  Even though you probably have nothing to worry about, we speak to them with respect as they have authority.

We speak to clients with respect and authority as they expect us to represent their best interests and work on their behalf.  This is very similar to how we speak to an interviewer in a job interview.  They expect us to be respectful and show knowledge and authority at the same time.

Nowhere have we stated that we are a different person when we speak in these scenarios, just that we are using a different way to communicate, even if the message is often the same.

Modern communication, especially in Social Media is just as complex.

If you are communicating on Linked In, you will use a more business-like tone, provide information and publish articles because the audience there expects that approach.  It is almost as if you are working and communicating with your clients and co-workers.

Twitter is more of a media communication platform very similar to press releases.  Your communications are going to be shorter and to the point, even if they have attachments or pictures.  Twitter users are there to get a quick hit of information like reading headlines on a news ticker.

Facebook is much more personal, even if it is used by celebrities with millions of followers.  Pictures, status updates, announcements and opinions are shared on this platform.  Users expect you to be more personal, even if you have a business page, and appeal to them on a personal level, perhaps with stories to go with the pictures.

Instagram is all about pictures.  You can share what is happening with you personally or with an infographic, but it has to be very visually appealing, as users expect this.

TikTok is about short, fun videos that may be purely for entertainment, even from businesses.  The feeling is like you are interacting with your friends and sharing a fun moment with them.

Just as in the personal communication examples above, you can be the same person and communicate totally differently on each of these social media platforms depending on the context.  You can even have your own website where you can incorporate ALL of these communication styles in one place.  You can have a blog where you speak about your area of expertise or business while at the same time having pages dedicated to each of the social media apps.  That way, a visitor can communicate in the way that they are most comfortable.

One important thing to note is that if you do not communicate in the style expected, you will have no connection with the audience and probably not communicate with them at all.  If you upload a fun, short video to Linked In, it may get some interaction, but do it too often and the audience will come to expect it and not view your videos as they are not there for that. 

This is the same for all platforms as it is for all personal communication.  If your boss, as an example, passed off all work as a joke and was never serious, the business unit they oversaw would probably lose respect for them and productivity would drop.

You can communicate in a wide variety of styles depending on the context of the audience and still get your message across while maintaining your identity and authority.  You only need to tailor the message.