Q&A Hero

Q: Many companies are now using ________ to replace or supplement some conference calls, training courses, and other communication activities. A) blogs B) instant messaging C) email D) text messaging E) podcasts

Q: Which of the following is important when you're completing messages for your blog? A) determining the scope and subject of your message B) evaluating the content and readability of your message C) allow autocorrect functions to find errors and oversights D) determining method of transmission E) spending more time on the planning step than normal

Q: The ability to update content quickly and easily makes ________ a natural medium when communicators want to get messages out in a hurry. A) websites B) podcasting channels C) blogs and microblogs D) user-generated content sites E) virtual networks

Q: What opportunities and challenges are associated with the use of instant messaging in the workplace?

Q: Explain how to apply the three-step writing process to instant messages.

Q: List at least three drawbacks of using instant messaging in business.

Q: What are the characteristics of an effective email subject line?

Q: In an organization, the use of ________ would be most effective when updating employees at remote locations during a time of emergency. A) IM B) text messages C) content management D) email E) phone calls

Q: The ________ feature of instant messaging enables users to see which people are at their desks and available to IM. A) ghost protocol B) presence awareness C) passcode exemplification D) network compatibility E) gamification

Q: As it pertains to instant messaging, ________ involves making sure that online correspondents are really who they appear to be. A) social encryption B) passcode verification C) system coordination D) user authentication E) system log in

Q: In order to use instant messaging (IM) productively in the workplace, A) maintain your IM presence 24-7. B) don't worry about IM etiquette during short exchanges. C) treat IM as a professional communication medium. D) use IM to send confidential, complex, and personal messages. E) use IM to replace the use of email whenever possible.

Q: You can plan for important business exchanges via IM by viewing them as A) invitations to discuss personal matters. B) conversations with specific goals in mind. C) opportunities to save time by multitasking. D) routine events that don't require formalities. E) permanent records of conversations.

Q: An unsolicited IM from a company informing you of their great rates on vacations in Hawaii is an example of A) spam. B) a computer virus. C) spim. D) viral marketing. E) enterprise instant messaging.

Q: Advantages of using IM rather than email include A) its ability to eliminate "junk mail" messages. B) its availability on mobile devices but not computers. C) its ability to hold real-time text conversations. D) its fool-proof identity verification procedures. E) less network infiltration.

Q: When using IM to communicate with clients and vendors, your greatest concern is likely to be A) incompatibility between your company's IM system and the systems your vendors and clients use. B) the need for users to learn complicated software that may take years to learn. C) the ability to use it only on expensive, highly specialized devices. D) the high cost. E) the need to include visual references.

Q: Compared to email, instant messaging (IM) A) is slower and more complicated to use. B) has not caught on in the business community. C) is more costly as well. D) offers greater speed. E) eliminates the need for user authentication.

Q: Which of the following is a compelling advantage of IM in the workplace? A) IM is universal. B) IM closely resembles one-on-one conversations. C) IM is an effective medium for private, short- to medium-length messages. D) IM allows senders to write messages and recipients to read them, according to their schedules. E) IM offers better network security than email.

Q: What are emoticons? Why are they controversial in business communication?

Q: Explain how inappropriate use of email at work can lead to legal problems.

Q: Spelling, punctuation, and grammar don't matter in email; getting your message out quickly should be your only concern.

Q: The ________ of an email is important because it helps readers decide whether to read the message or delete it. A) subject line B) final paragraph C) signature block D) complimentary close E) salutation

Q: Some email users employ ________ to express emotional nuances in casual or informal email messages. A) emoticons B) monograms C) cyphers D) cryptograms E) capital letters

Q: A(n) ________ includes items such as your name, title, company, and contact information at the end of your email messages. A) epigram B) email signature C) subject line D) salutary close E) email letterhead

Q: Which one of the following is a planning step in creating effective email messages? A) following company email guidelines and policies B) double-checking your recipient list before sending your message C) creating informative subject lines that clarify the purpose of your message D) deciding whether to mark your message as "urgent" E) writing a concise statement of audience needs

Q: When you're writing email messages in the workplace, remember that business emails A) require a higher level of quality than personal emails. B) should never be shorter than one screen. C) aren't constrained by the rules of grammar, punctuation, and syntax. D) are the best medium for internal messages, regardless of their content. E) should be written in the same format as a personal email.

Q: Because many email programs display the first few words or lines of incoming messages, you should A) be vague in your first sentence, to entice the reader to open the message. B) leave several blank lines at the beginning of each message. C) treat the first sentence of the message as an extension of your subject line. D) use phrases such as "MUST READ" in your first sentence. E) include symbolism to get your readers interest.

Q: The subject line of an email message A) is rarely read by the recipient. B) helps recipients decide whether to read the message. C) should describe only the general topic of the message. D) must never extend beyond three words. E) can be left off if there is a personal relationship.

Q: Email messages A) generally require less care than other messages, since email is temporary and easily deleted. B) should be written with the assumption that they will be stored forever. C) should always be less formal in business than messages in other media. D) should be replaced with IM whenever possible. E) are a productive tool to gain access to anyone in the organization.

Q: Which of the following will help you write effective email messages? A) clarify meaning with the use of emoticons B) avoid sending long, complex messages C) assume the email will be read on a large screen D) use all caps to bring attention to critical information E) use as many acronyms as possible

Q: Many companies have formal email policies that include restrictions on sending A) personal messages via corporate email. B) confidential or proprietary information. C) material that might be objectionable or offensive to others. D) sensitive content. E) all of the above.

Q: Starbucks Coffee, Animal Planet, and Turner Classic Movies offer videos to their followers via their ________ on YouTube. A) retail channels B) private channels C) branded channels D) pay-for-view channels E) cable-ready channels

Q: YouTube, Wikipedia, and Twitter are popular examples of A) general-purpose social networks. B) user-generated content sites. C) community macromedia outlets. D) private-label social networks. E) personalized synchronous networks.

Q: As an alternative to newsfeeds, ________ involves aggregating (gathering) and curating (sorting, categorizing, and presenting) information on a particular topic in a way that makes it convenient for targeted readers. A) blog rolling B) content curation C) sentiment analysis D) hub syndication E) virtual categorization

Q: RSS feeds can benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites. However, a drawback to RSS feeds involves the "fire-hose effect" of A) having old messages purged by new messages. B) being discouraged because it's so hard to subscribe to RSS feeds. C) getting so many feeds so fast that it's impossible to manage them. D) RSS feeds that separate trivial articles from those that are essential. E) all of the above.

Q: Community Q&A sites offer opportunities for building your personal brand. When you're responding to an individual's question, keep in mind that A) community Q&A sites are a fad, so responding to questions is a waste of time. B) your reply to the question will only be relevant to the person who asked it. C) material that's posted on a community Q&A site won't be visible for long. D) responding to questions can be fun, even if you don't know what you're talking about. E) you're responding in advance to anyone who has the same question and visits the site.

Q: A ________ is a social media site where users, not owners, contribute most of the content. A) branded channel B) user-generated content site C) content curation channel D) central hub E) content marketing site

Q: When using social networking for personal branding and company communication, why is it important to anchor your presence in a central hub?

Q: How can internal social networks foster collaboration and build communities within the organization?

Q: Explain the role of a community manager at the workplace.

Q: The practice of content marketing involves ________, in order to build closer ties with current and potential online customers. A) pitching your products and services at every opportunity B) building up your company by tearing down your competitors C) stalking online consumers in order to capture data about their behavior D) offering free information that's valuable to community members E) monitoring the Twittersphere for discussions about your brand

Q: A company can use ________ as a measure of how effectively it is engaging its various online stakeholders in a mutually beneficial exchange of information. A) brand socialization B) brand standardization C) brand management D) brand equilibrium E) brand exploration

Q: Companies can use a research technique called ________ to track social networks and other media to (1) take the pulse of public opinion and (2) identify opinion makers. A) cold calling B) sentiment analysis C) brand socialization D) location-based networking E) guerilla marketing

Q: Social networks are a natural tool for bringing together ________, people who engage in similar work, and ________, people who share enthusiasm for a particular product or activity. A) private networks; public networks B) virtual network societies; dilettantes C) communities of practice; communities of interest D) intra-disciplinary conclaves; product champions E) community groups; marketing mavens

Q: One strategy an organization should use to build its social network is to A) choose one compositional mode and use it for all social media sites. B) allow others to join your conversation, but don't join others. C) limit community building among competitors. D) offer promotional information as often as possible. E) maintain a persistent online personality.

Q: To make it easier for people to find and follow an organization, all social media from the organization should be organized in a central hub, a A) Facebook page with embedded links to supporting data. B) community building site. C) web presence that anchors the online presence. D) community blog site. E) cloud computing site.

Q: Providing free information that is valuable to the audience but also helps a company build closer ties with customers is called A) content augmentation. B) community hub building. C) extending the organization. D) customer support. E) content marketing.

Q: ________ involves using social networks and social media to give customers a convenient way to get help from a company. A) Networked organization B) Virtual organization C) Social customer service D) Sentiment analysis E) Socialization

Q: The measure of how effectively a company engages with online stakeholders is A) brand socialization. B) understanding target markets. C) sentiment analysis. D) brand community. E) community of interest.

Q: A community of interest that forms around a specific product is sometimes called a A) social community. B) cloud community. C) company community. D) brand community. E) target community.

Q: People who engage in similar work, even though they might be geographically dispersed, are known as A) communities of interest. B) cloud companions. C) communities of practice. D) community followers. E) community collaborators.

Q: Social networks are used for many business communication needs because the networks can A) integrate the company work force. B) limit collaboration with customers. C) reduce the need for mentors. D) provide an outlet for employee concerns. E) increase structural barriers.

Q: In an organization, the ________ is the social media interface between a company and its external stakeholders. A) media manager B) augmentation manager C) cloud manager D) community manager E) IT manager

Q: Networks that focus on a particular function or audience are known as A) public, general-purpose networks. B) public, specialized networks. C) private networks. D) private, general-purpose networks. E) augmented networks.

Q: Online services that help people and organizations form connections and share information are generally referred to as A) clouds. B) microblogs. C) websites. D) social networks. E) digital media.

Q: What is location-based social networking? Why is it important to business communication?

Q: Identify the nine compositional modes that apply to electronic media in the workplace.

Q: List at least three general situations in which you would send a printed version of a business message instead of using an electronic medium.

Q: Discuss how differentiating between various digital media tools can get complicated as systems and people use those tools in new and creative ways.

Q: Gamification links the virtual world of online social networking with the physical world of retail stores and other locations.

Q: Smartphones and tablets are ideal for mobile blogging.

Q: Because each electronic medium has unique requirements, basic communication skills do not usually transfer from one system to another.

Q: ________ for electronic media include conversations, comments and critiques, orientations, summaries, and narratives. A) Shared systems B) Compositional modes C) Interactive approaches D) Transactional methodologies E) Microblogs

Q: Twitter-ready bites of information, extracted from a blog post or other message, are called A) sound bites. B) tweetables. C) epigrams. D) clickables. E) updates.

Q: A ________ is the online equivalent of recorded radio or video broadcasts. A) podcast B) digital portfolio C) videogram D) virtual timeline E) microblog

Q: Marketers use microblogging systems to send ________ that withhold key information, in order to attract the attention of current and prospective customers. A) teasers B) platitudes C) anagrams D) testimonials E) summaries

Q: When a summary appears at the beginning of an article or webpage, A) it distributes how-to advice to visitors. B) it offers helpful tips and insightful commentary. C) it offers a review of the document's key points. D) it includes updates and announcements. E) it acts as a miniature version of the document.

Q: When writing for social media, one should A) write as if they are offering a sales pitch. B) write informally, but carefully. C) include more detail than if writing for non-social media. D) withhold information to keep readers engaged. E) remember that anything posted online can easily be deleted.

Q: Social media has the ability to increase ________, allowing stakeholders to better monitor business activities. A) teasers B) feedback C) microblogging D) summarizations E) transparency

Q: Consuming large amounts of small pieces of information instead of reviewing a larger document is referred to as A) chunking. B) microblogging. C) content snacking. D) summarizing. E) teasers.

Q: The use of ________ represents a fundamental shift in business communication. A) websites B) Facebook C) social media D) digital channels E) digital media

Q: The term ________ represents the use of game thinking in mobile apps and web services to engage audiences. A) gamification B) contest simulation C) shadow boxing D) event-based learning E) augmented reality

Q: When you're posting comments on social media, A) don't worry about the details of spelling and punctuation. B) exercise your free-speech rights by ranting and raving at length. C) promote your products and services aggressively. D) provide short "chunks" of information that can help others who visit the site. E) write from an objective, third-person point of view.

Q: Using "teasers" in electronic media as a way to pull readers or listeners into a story or other document A) is unethical and should always be avoided. B) is appropriate only when large purchases are not involved. C) is acceptable, as long as the payoff is valuable and legitimate. D) is never appropriate for microblogging sites. E) was once effective, but is not any longer due to an Internet-savvy public.

Q: Training content on a mobile device that is provided as workers are learning tasks is referred to as A) gamification. B) virtual reality. C) moblogging. D) mobile podcasting. E) augmented reality.

Q: When it comes to writing messages in today's business environment, A) printed messages are obsolete. B) printed messages are still preferred for formal correspondence or a court of law. C) email has completely replaced printed messages for all internal communication. D) hard-copy messages are used primarily for delivering negative news. E) most people think printed messages are too informal.

Q: Marketers can use ________ to link the virtual world of online social networking with the physical world of retail stores. A) near-field collaboration B) location-based social networking C) rapid-response enumeration D) cloud-based social monetization E) mobile podcasting

Q: After you have completed the first draft of your business message, the next step is to make a final, quick pass through it to check for typos and spelling errors.

Q: Before revising someone else's work, A) identify the writing style you wish to use. B) identify key points you wish to make. C) identify the writer's intent of the message. D) identify ways you can help the writer change the emphasis of the piece. E) identify ways to help the writer incorporate your agenda into the piece.

Q: When evaluating for content, organization, style, and tone, the conclusion of the message should A) be open ended. B) offer an opportunity for further information. C) present new ideas. D) include links to research. E) summarize the main idea and create a positive impression.

Q: Messages with spelling and grammar errors create an impression of A) multitasking. B) poor autocorrecting software. C) blog use. D) simple revision focus. E) poor quality thinking.