What Are Your Communication Preferences?

by on June 9, 2010

Image representing iPhone 3G as depicted in Cr...
Image via CrunchBase

I have had interesting conversations recently on communication. Many of my friends have radically different styles than I have, and surprisingly there seems to be little thought as to how people communicate, intentionally or otherwise. This is interesting to me because many of my friends are impossible to get on the phone. Some have over the last 10 years, emailed less than 10 times. Friends who would never use Twitter will text almost non-stop. With these thoughts in my head I decided to get clear on what my own personal preferences were. Naturally I made a list.

This got me thinking about my preferred modes of communication, both inbound and outbound. Of course I used the trusty Prioritizer to help me rank my items. This is what I found.

In order of importance to me, I present Sean’s Communication Preferences

  1. Face to face-What can I say, I appreciate quality time.
  2. Text- It’s a mental nudge for me, a quick way to let someone know you are thinking of them
  3. Email- I share a lot of links, and I am a fan of doing it directly, plus it’s a great way to reach out
  4. Tweet-quick, condensed way to converse and share
  5. Facebook-This is less of a hub for me than most, but some of my friends swear by it, so I am there.
  6. FaceTime-Its club iPhone, and I’m a fan
  7. Instant Message-This is the first line of defense against the phone call
  8. Phone-This is dead last. There are about 5 people I talk to on a regular basis, and its SIMPLY because we entertain each other during drive time.

There you have it, my communication preferences. What about yours? Do you prefer mostly online or mobile communication? What are your top 3 communication preferences and why?

Let me know in the comments!

Related posts:

  1. Facebook Is The New Phone Number
  2. How To Save Your Contacts
  3. Communication Is The Key

Tagged as: communication, Facebook, Instant messaging, IPhone, iPhone 3G, Mobile phone, Online Communities, Social network, Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/Semper_Fly Veni Vidi Vici

    I'm going to say my favorites are the following:

    1. Twitter . I don't feel a sense of urgency to reply, yet I'm on it enough that I typically reply fastest.
    2. Text. Although I miss some texts trying to go back and they're lost in the string of emails and texts in my BlackBerry.
    3. Skype. I say this because people can send me messages, but I love looking at the person I'm talking to, but can't always be out in the world getting face time.
    4. On the phone, but this is a small circle of precisely 7 people. And those calls are mostly 5 minutes or less. Two people are the exception. My Dad and one other person I can sit on the phone with for hours.
    5. Email. If it's too long to text and not a phone call, this is how to get it done.

    Face time is for weekends. The rest is dedicated to work, so if I lived closer to all my friends and didn't always have the three ninjas with me, I'd be better at it.

    Good post. You got the tiny little hamster moving that wheel in my head.

  • http://www.seaneoliver.com Sean Oliver

    Thanks for the comment. That's a top 3 I haven't seen. Twitter as #1? Followed by text and Skype, which isn't even on my list.

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention New Post: What Are Your Communication Preferences? -- Topsy.com

  • Matty

    Obviously, depending on what you're engaged with at the moment – i.e. working versus leisure time – your communication preferences may swing wildly. Additionally, I spend a fair amount of time communicating in a second language, and my communication preferences change based on that, too. I don't like phone conversations in my L2, because it's harder to understand what's being said, and the other person can't read my body language/face if I want them to slow down without interrupting them.

    While I recognize the value of Twitter and Facebook posts, I never/rarely use them myself, preferring targeted, direct communications to one or two people (the exception being party or event invites). So I would say face-to-face followed by email are my number one choices in both languages, and then my list starts to fork from there. Face-to-Face, analog can't be beat for raw quality!

  • http://www.seaneoliver.com Sean Oliver

    Old school Matty, old school. I like it. Good point on different preferences depending on engagement. I was shooting for overall preferences. Thanks for the comment.

  • http://www.seaneoliver.com Sean Oliver

    Old school Matty, old school. I like it. Good point on different preferences depending on engagement. I was shooting for overall preferences. Thanks for the comment.

  • http://www.ricardobueno.com Ricardo Bueno

    I prefer text and email. Voicemail doesn't really work for me. I use Google Voice to transcribe messages to email but it's not all the great (it does get the job done though).

    Beyond that I really don't mind getting on the phone if I'm available. And if I'm not, I'll call you right back just as soon as I am.

  • http://www.seaneoliver.com Sean Oliver

    Wow. A guy who actually returns calls these days? Impressive.

Previous post:

Next post: