Video Over Voice Chat

• Trends
• July 11, 2018
• by Merrie Spaeth

Maybe the Wall Street Journal’s crack writer on personal technology, David Pierce, should talk to our team of up-and-coming stars. He recently wrote “Voice Chat is Way of the Future” and I started to think that this was one more avenue our clients would need to pay attention to in our continuing quest to communicate with and enlist employees and customers as ambassadors. I was caught with his line, “We need voice back in our communication.”

In these days of Instagram, Snapchat, text and so on, I said “Right on!” But started to be skeptical when he touted the brevity of voice chat. No need, he says for pleasantries and “social norms.” But isn’t that what makes personal interaction better than the limited boxes for text or characters or an exchange punctuated by the latest emojis?

I circulated the article and one of our smartest – and most confidently vocal! – associates said she had only used the feature when she had accidentally held the button. A more serious problem she identified was background noise. Her final thought: “Video wins over voice chat because you can see facial expressions.” Maybe our clients are safe from having to adopt another communication channel – at least for now.