Know Your Media

Keeping different types of media in mind; the following is a summary of four different media technologies that Administrative Assistants should know about and have experience with;

Radio was the first media that enabled information to travel immediately from the source to a large, widespread, and distant audience at the same time.  It has been used for almost 80 years for news, advertisement, public service and entertainment.  Radio broadcasts include different genres of music, news, religious talk shows, entertainment including interviews with popular icons, and talk shows with hosts of differing political views. 

Television was the next media that could be sent and received immediately from the source to a large, widespread and distant audience at the same time.  Initially, TV only offered a few stations.  This enabled TV to bring news, sports, entertainment and advertising into people’s lives.  What was on TV became a way for people to connect, either by watching together or by talking about what they had seen at a later time.  With the advent of cable television a viewer can now choose from hundreds of stations.  However, television is no longer free to watch.

Cell Phone use was initially only a replacement for home phones and consisted of voice conversations.  Now, they can be used for sending messages, taking and sending photos,  downloading, recording, listening to and sending music, and as a way to access the internet.  The cell phone has become the connecting method of choice for most people from children as young as 6^th grade to the large baby boomer population.

The advent of the internet created additional ways for people to connect to each other; social media such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, MySpace, PhotoBucket, Blogs and any number of ways to send messages such as Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail.  An internet user also has access to worldwide news, entertainment and information.  The internet has become a choice method for businesses to connect to clients, advertise, send and receive documents, collect data and create data base information.

Many current employers want employees who use computers to have at least a basic knowledge of the internet.  Administrative Assistants are often maintaining websites and doing research for employers.  Some employers even have Facebook and Twitter sites that need to be kept up to date.  As Admins we need to be sure to keep up with the times.