Mediated Communication.
A network connects you to other people, which can support the success of an individual by linking them to people who have influence and resources, thereby achieving their set goals. An efficient network should provide valuable information that is not common for people. Networking facilitates brainstorming, where it gives a platform for different people to provide their input of ideas from their knowledge and experience aimed at problem-solving. A group presents a vast pool of possible solutions to a given problem as compared with individuals. Therefore, a reliable network can indeed go a long way in connecting you to people who have the same interest as yours. This is depicted in how Karen uses different types of networks to reach a wide range of people and convey her message, which discourages setting up of casinos.
One of the properties of the network, evidenced by Karen and Casino Philly, is that it has reliable connectivity. Connectivity deals with how reliable a network is at linking with people one already knows. A good network should be able to cover people outside those you already know. Karen effectively uses all her network links to create awareness of the negative impacts of the casino. Karen does this through her Facebook page, where she posts issues concerning the casino. She also creates a website where she displays information for the politicians also to support the initiative. Through the website, registered users could also post comments concerning the same issue. The main aim of Karen is to create widespread media attention, hence forming negative publicity for the casino proposals (Dainton, 2017). Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Another property exhibited by the network used by Karen and Casino Philly is that it has an appropriate breadth. Karen uses systems that consist of strong relationships with a wide range of people. This enables the information on the negative publicity of casinos to circulate widely hence achieving her core purpose of creating awareness among many people. Consequently, more people get involved with the group (Dainton, 2017).
Another characteristic exhibited by Karen’s network is scalability. Casino Philly’s network is scalable; it allows room for expansion, which enables the accommodation of new users without really altering the performance of the network. This is evident when the website created by Karen allowed registered users to post comments and organize meetings (Dainton, 2017).
Media richness assesses the ability of a given medium of communication to convey understanding to another person as compared to another medium. Casino Philly media richness was more vibrant as compared to the casino inventor group. Kelly’s medium of passing information is useful because it had a broad social influence, and people interpret the message delivered with much ease. Communications that clarify ambiguous issues and enable easy understanding are considered richer. Daft and Lengel argue that media richness depends on the following factors, the medium capacity for immediate feedback, the number of channels and cues present, language variety and the degree to which intent is focused on the recipient (Dennis & Valacich, 1999)
Casino Philly’s choice of medium has such a significant social presence, thus creating a greater immediacy and warmth of the communication, because of the higher number of channels. Karen is able to use a variety of channels to advocate for her campaign regarding the negative impact of the casino. She posts the harmful effects of casino on Facebook pages, pages of local businesses, and local non-profit groups. She also creates a website where she highlights the same issue. Karen also follows twitter accounts of local politicians and members of the Gaming Control Board, tweeting responses to them (Dainton, 2017).
The introduction of the Loke application proves to be a great success, As it enables real-time navigation of information to users via smartphones. All this effort by Karen pays off as newspapers, news radio stations, and TV news stations capture these protests because the information is readily available on Loke (Dainton, 2017).
The Casino investors group medium of communication is less productive as compared to Casino Philly; they run a full-page of an advertisement in the Sunday Philadelphia. The medium of channels is limited hence making it less effective in reaching out to a broad audience, especially those who don’t read newspapers often. The casino investors should have used a wide variety of mediums to create awareness among the people on how they were intending to balance between casino activities and ensuring that the activities do not interfere with the values of the neighborhoods. This would have reduced the ambiguity associated with only utilizing one medium, which is less reliable in creating an understanding of the targeted audience (Dainton, 2017).
On the one hand, Casino Philly decides to go for a media that has strong outreach. At first, Casino Philly uses a variety of mediums, including Facebook, Twitter, and websites, which proves to be less successful. Later on, the Loke application is adopted with the help of Warren Trembly. A sixteen-year-old, which produces remarkable results. Loke makes it easier for people to share their views about the issue of an attempt to set up casino near the neighborhood (Dainton, 2017).
On the other hand, the casino investors chose to use advert in conveying their message. They promised people to maintain the integrity of the existing neighborhoods while evaluating the city’s status as a tourist destination. However, the advert seems not to be changing people’s position concerning the negative impacts attached to building casinos in the neighborhood. This is evident when people eventually vote for the referendum that proposes a free casino zone.
References
Dainton, Marianne. Applying Communication Theory for Professional Life (NULL) (pp. 195- 196). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.
Dennis, A. R., & Valacich, J. S. (1999, January). Rethinking media richness: Towards a theory of media synchronicity. In Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences. 1999. HICSS-32. Abstracts and CD-ROM of Full Papers (pp. 10-pp). IEEE.