Discussion Forums and Blogs.

Discussion forums tend to give a feeling that everyone in welcome to add their own thoughts and opinions. Forums allow anyone to start a discussion about anything and wait to get a response by anyone viewing that forum. Discussion forums are usually helpful because the person looking at your discussion is often interested in it and are likely to give constructive critics or advance, rather than start a slanging match because they don’t like what you have to say!


Blogs still allow you to comment on the post but it is less open for discussion like forums. The blog is usually written by one person who has researched a topic on the internet and added information from different sources. Blogs often come from one individual or in some cases, a team of people if it is for business.


“In the context of business communication, these are often used to talk with the marketplace and to join the conversation that existing external bloggers may be having” - Jeremiah Owyang, Columnist for Forbes CMO Network.

Email and IM

Emailing is a way of communicating by exchanging messages across the internet.  Emailing is a quick way of sending information to whoever you want. An advantage of emailing is that you can communicate with people quickly no matter where they are.

Although there are many advantages of using email services, there are some disadvantages too.  Emailing allows you too attach files and images which can be seen as a plus side to using email but that feature allows people to add viruses /malicious malware to the email.

Instant messaging is usually seen as a fun way of keeping up with friends and sending files to each other. Most instant messaging services only allow you to send a short message. IM has a few advantages over email. For example, you don’t get junk mail. Like Email, it is possible for other contacts to send you malicious files which can harm your pc.

Personally, I use email more than IM because I find it more convenient as it doesn’t require you both to be online at the same time.