The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication: A Guide to Internal Communication, Public Relations, Marketing, and Leadership

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Shel Holtz

Since the 1960s, computer and network technology have had a great impact on organizational technology—altering everything from the skills communicators need to convey messages and engage audiences to stakeholders' ability to organize and influence company behaviors.

Since the early 1990s, we have witnessed the introduction of e-mail to the business world, followed by the World Wide Web and social media. In two decades, we have gone from a print-centric communications environment to one in which the death of print has been widely predicted. We have seen the Internet's impact on communications evolve from an afterthought to the primary channel through which people get ...