I love it when I come across a new blog and writer with a niche topic that they really nail in their writing. Especially so when it fits within my realm of interests. Today I came across a blog by Adrian Chan, which I have now added to my regular reads. Adrian runs three blogs, one of which is called “A Social Interaction Design (SXD) Blog on Web 2.0 and Social Media”.

In Adrian’s description of this blog he says the posts “tend to be theoretical and dense”. In an online world when it is commonplace for quick fire posts to be sent out into the abyss, and in many cases this real-time approach is best for the purpose, it is great to make an addition like this to the reading list. Content of depth and breadth, based in theory but applied to the practical. 

I may be biased as I spent four years doing a Psychology degree and find all of this fascinating, but I think it is essential for communications professionals to have an understanding of the drivers & psychology of those we are communicating to.

It is easy to get caught up in keeping up to date and fresh with the latest online media and comms tools, which is of course very important in this fast-paced environment, but value of this technological knowledge isn’t maximised if you have lost sight and a clear understanding of your audience.

This deep understanding of audience comes before learning about the web platforms and social media channels which are the tools used to communicate, conversate and/or collaborate.

The tools used to communicate might have changed, but the goal - communicating a message(s) to a target audience - hasn’t.

Read this post from Adrian for context, “All words are created equal but some are more equal than others”