Conversations these days often move between face-to-face conversations and online chats, and many people assume that communication skills are interchangeable between face-to-face interactions and digital platforms because talking is talking. However, that is not the case. Online communication requires different skills from offline conversations because online communication follows a completely different rhythm, tone, and structure than in-person conversations.
The lack of physical cues, the speed of digital exchanges, and the diversity of online spaces demand a new set of communication skills. Understanding the differences between online and offline communication can make you a better communicator and also protect your relationships, professionalism, and clarity in the long run. Let us discuss in detail why online communication requires different skills from offline conversations.
Online Communication Lacks Non-Verbal Cues
Face-to-face conversations contain non-verbal cues, including body language, eye contact, facial expressions, and tone, which help to convey meaning and emotions. With the help of these non-verbal cues, it is easy to understand and detect sarcasm, sincerity, confusion, or frustration. However, in online communication, there are no non-verbal cues, and a simple sentence like “Okay, fine” can be read as agreement, annoyance, or resignation, depending on the reader’s interpretation.
This lack of non-verbal cues can lead to misunderstandings, which is why it is essential for digital communications to choose their words carefully, add clarifying expressions, and use emojis when appropriate to convey tone and emotions.
Online Audiences Are More Diverse
In person, you get to communicate with people that you know or share a cultural background with. However, on online platforms like Facebook Messenger, you can meet people from different countries, different native languages, different humour styles, and different sensitivities. This requires you to be more inclusive, use clearer language, and avoid assumptions as much as possible.
Since miscommunication and misunderstandings can happen quickly, there are cultural or linguistic differences; therefore, it is important to be mindful of what you type, review messages before sending, and understand how your message might be interpreted.
Writing Skills Matter In Online Communication
Face-to-face and offline chats rely on your speech, which is naturally spontaneous and expressive, whereas online communications rely on your writing skills. Typing quickly and clearly, using proper pronunciation, structuring sentences well, and expressing ideas concisely all matter in online chats. A poorly written message can sound rude, confusing, and uninteresting to the other person, even if the intention was positive.
Therefore, it is necessary to have strong writing skills to be a good digital communicator, as your digital relationships depend on your typing skills. Individuals who are considered good online communicators almost always have strong writing skills.
Interpretation Online Is More Subjective
Another reason why you need to be cautious while communicating online is that interpretation online is more subjective than you think. When you speak face-to-face with someone, the listener can hear your tone, see your expression, and notice your body language. While in online chats, people often interpret messages based on their current mood, assumptions, and past experiences. Someone feeling stressed may read a neutral message as rude.
For this reason, it is important to add context, avoid ambiguous phrases, be cautious with humour and sarcasm, and use structure to guide meaning when communicating online. Messenger apps like WhatsApp (which you can grab from here) allow you to add emotions and context to chats with emojis, GIFs, and multimedia, but it is your job as a sender to use those in order to reduce ambiguity.
Online Etiquette Is Different
Online platforms have their own unspoken rules that you must learn if you are to use these platforms. The online etiquette includes when to use voice notes, when long messages are acceptable, how quickly to reply, how formal or informal a message should be, when emojis are appropriate, and when to use professional vs. casual tones.
These rules vary across different apps and platforms. For instance, the online etiquette of WhatsApp is different from email etiquette. Online etiquette is well-established and is something that you must learn and adapt to communicate effectively.
