Abstract
This chapter will present the online environment as the new channel for social interaction, putting into focus the organizational communication and its development from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. Nowadays, talking about the online environment, Social Media is the main concept, defined by: social networks, Social Bookmarking sites, business blogs, and many other web pages where users can interact and can generate or access content, as well as more static sites, generating unidirectional information. The chapter will also discuss the implication of Social Media characteristics, defining the main terms and includes a case study discussing the OMV Petrom strategy of communication using Social Media channels. So, the online environment can be seen as a second reality in terms of professional activity. Specialists become users, networking, and communicating permanently. The online environment is therefore in favor of any organization that wants to be connected to this technologically and professionalized world.
TopBackground
In the past decades, information technology developed significantly, both in terms of hardware and software. This has had a major impact in simplifying organizational communication processes, especially in the business sphere. Originating from the United States, the Internet is based on “a network of linked computers, each one connected to a set of others, supporting the electronic communication between computers around the world” (Henslowe, 1999, p. 87). In order to better understand the evolution of the Internet and the emergence of Social Media, we need to take into consideration the relevant distinction between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, and especially between the concepts of static and dynamic (See Figure 1).
Figure 1. Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0 features
Key Terms in this Chapter
Social media: A range of different Web 2.0 internet-based tools that increase and enhance the exchange of information.
Online Environment: The virtual space in which a computed defined system can function being connected to other(s) connected systems through a communication electronic channel and sharing content.
Web 2.0: A term that designates a whole range of interactive and collaborative aspects of the internet.
Online Organizational Communication: A web-based online communication targeted to specific publics used in the organizational context.
Internet: A global system of interconnected computer networks that facilitates data communication services.
Web 1.0: Online activities centered on client-server architecture, where processing is done by the server, and the client is only used to display the content.