By Ramesh Ramamurthy

Using social media in technical communication

In our daily activities, we see an increase of information exchange, both in our personal and professional lives. Social media like forums, blogs and wikis have a great impact on the user, turning him from content consumer into content producer. A large number of today’s content users, belonging to various professions and walks of life, have started to dig deep into online information sources. Apart from their regular profession of writing user manuals, technical writers are also becoming increasingly keen on writing information in social media applications.

The impact of social media

Communication is not restricted to emails, websites and internet. However, the large number of social media applications available today strongly impacts the way we communicate information.  

Social Media has enabled the way people discover, plan, share, read and exchange information online. It allows all groups of people to get connected online to share information. This information has no bounds or limits. Information available in social media is very unique and different from traditional media like newspapers or TV. Social media has a great influence on today’s corporate organizations. It has defined new ways of employee communication with organizations’ focus shifting towards knowledge management, customer relationship management, new marketing trends through social groups, etc.  

One of the major applications on the list of social media is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a free web-based multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. It is a collaboration tool that allows each and every individual across the globe to add, view or edit information existing on the Wikipedia pages. Any individual is allowed to correct or modify the content written by others. Pages are grouped into several categories. These categories cover technical topics as well as information on medical and pharmaceutical issues, financial matters, law, sociology, society and various other domains.

Wikipedia for professional groups

It is important to be aware of the conditions in today's society. There are traditional media like newspaper, television, CDs, and videos that help us understand society, politics, culture and day-to-day events. Now Wikipedia, an easy web-based tool, provides us quick access to information. The majority of professional groups make use of this social media platform including doctors, engineers, lawyers, architects, technicians and designers.  

There has been an enormous progress in the medical field with improvements in research, medicine, laboratory equipment and groups/associations that help to bring doctors and patients together in providing the required information. Such information is made available to everybody through Wikipedia. It helps the common people to be aware of these advancements, and brings people closer together across the globe.

Wikipedia and technical communication

Users can benefit greatly from the use of social media in technical communication. The usage of household equipment like security systems, automatic electronic locks, televisions, refrigerators, air conditioning systems, coolers and many more becomes more and more complex. This creates an even greater necessity to be aware of the correct usage of such electronic or household equipment. When children stay alone at home, they might test or tamper with the equipment out of curiosity. Parents need to be well aware of the recent advancements in their equipment to educate their children. Even though, parents might read the information on the usage of their product in product brochures, they will benefit from social media applications. Wikipedia, for example, might help them to know even the smallest of the information related to any technology or device with illustrations, tables and graphs. The information available in Wikipedia will help people of all ages to understand the information as it is written in simple English, and is also available in many other languages.  

Information technology has found its way into every niche of daily life. From small businesses to large shopping malls – everyone uses IT to the maximum extent to automate daily activities. It is the job of IT specialists to educate the people in today's society and raise awareness about the usage of IT. This might be a difficult task. However, anyone with basic computer skills and internet access can open Wikipedia and search for information. Information available on Wikipedia is vast and encompasses all social classes. Thus, by making people aware of the latest information, Wikipedia can help us to develop a cleaner, healthier and safer environment.