SamanthaSine11
Memorandum
The purpose of this memo is to present the definition of one-to-many communication, describe
the major features of the Motorola Owners’ Forum sites, and illustrate Motorola’s strengths and
weaknesses.
One-to-Many Communication:
(Above: Illustration of One-to-Many Communication)
One-to-many communication can be explained in the following example from Erez Barak, of
using a webinar to promote your company’s service or product:
“While many-to-many communication spreads the word about your webinar, the webinar itself
uses the older one-to-many mode with the speaker addressing whatever audience you've been
able to muster. Afterward, report on the webinar on your website. Post it on YouTube and related
sites. Follow up with a newsletter to your contact database, recapping webinar highlights and
reinforcing its message. In all cases, of course, you include links back to the related page on your
own site” (http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2158216/3-Social-Marketing-CommunicationMethods-When-How-to-Use-Them).
While one-to-one communication focuses on the company communicating with only one
customer one on one such as via a phone call, e-mail, or face-to-face, one-to-many
communication allows the company to communicate with many customers in a broader way
using tools such as blogs, customer service discussions online, online chartrooms, etc.
Many-to-many, according to Dr. Kurt Hochenauer defines many-to-many communication as
“Shlain’s “many to many” paradigm reflects a shift of cultural power from mainstream media
outlets to various Internet communities. These communities include political blogs, volunteer
organizations and dating services. The new communication paradigm creates a myriad of new
personal and public “spaces” (http://okiefunk.com/node/133).
Overall, one-to-many is the communication model Motorola’s Owners’ Forum sites chose in
comparison to the others, and the one I recommend using for Infinity Computer Company’s web
site.
SamanthaSine11
Motorola Achieves One-to-Many and Many-to-Many:
The Motorola Owners’ Forum sites effectively achieves one-to-many communication as well as
many-to-many communication with their discussion community they call their “peer-to-peer
support model” (https://forums.motorola.com/pages/home).
They achieve one-to-many when one person posts a question, comment or concern and many
people can respond to it. Also, many different types of people such as a fellow Motorola customer
or a Motorola expert. This is also evident within their blogs, where one person may post the blog,
but many are able to comment and view it.
This is further explained on their website when they state, “This is a peer-to-peer support forum
where members help each other, with an assist from volunteer MOTOXPRTs and occasional
input from Motorola employees. It's a great way to get help, but if you need help from a Motorola
agent immediately” (https://forums.motorola.com/pages/home).
Motorola also achieves many-to-many, because many people are able to communicate in group
conversation on both the blogs and owners’ forum sites. Many people are communicating with
many others, which makes this site successful in communication with not only Motorola-toCustomer but to a larger community/community’s.
(Below: A photo of the Motorola Owners’ Forum Blog)
BLOGS
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Welcome back!6100%
BLOG posted March 26, 2014 by Matt (Forums Manager)
Title:
Welcome back!
Entry:
SamanthaSine11
Because we are committed to the peer-to-peer support model on the Motorola Owners' Forums,
there are precious few of us actual Motorola employees out here. I'm here, and Nicole is here.
Wendy has started helping out as well, and there are a few others, including our mysterious forums
elves like luilao ("The High Spirit"), elnard and emejoy.
But our numbers have just increased for the better. I'm happy to welcome back Mark, who was my
partner on this site from before it was even launched. If you have been a member here for awhile,
you will likely remember him -- please say hello!
Mark will dive back into forums activities, helping to moderate and manage the site. With his help
we hope to improve site performance and organization and continue to improve the Motorola
Feedback Network.
Strengths of the Motorola Owners’ Forum Sites:
The company successfully uses one-to-many communication as well as many-to-many
communication well by reaching a larger audience:
-The company’s blog adheres to company policies, provides good content without
saying too much, uses an authentic voice, and avoids conflicts of interest (Markel 656).
-They make sure the discussion board posts share customers’ knowledge with the
group, but more specifically accurate knowledge. If it is incorrect it is flagged as false
information (Markel 656-657). The posts show that the person checked relevant
archives for answers to the person’s questions, because Motorola monitors the
discussions only posting accurate answers and flagging inaccurate ones (Markel 656657). They use evidence to support their claims, because they can provide links to
where they got their information or a personal testimony of their experience using the
product (Markel 656). The discussion posts stay on topic, avoid personal attacks, and
disclose potential conflicts of interests, again, because they are monitored by Motorola
employees.
-The website illustrates clearly what their peer-to-peer support form model is, so that
the customers inquiring about the support forum are fully informed about what it is and
how it works.
SamanthaSine11
-The website also provides visuals where it lists all the phone communities, and you
can click on your phone to get to these links easily, as seen in the photo below.
(Below: Photo of easy-to-use link to phone communities)
NEW COMMUNITIES!
To see all phone communities, click the Phones link, located at the top, centerleft, of each forum page
-For those who are interested in browsing the owners’ forum sites, Motorola provides a
link to their site map where they can browse the various phone communities. A part of
the site map can be seen in the visual below.
SITE MAP
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Phones
GOOGLE ANDROID™ (U.S.)
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MOTOROLA ADMIRAL™
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Ask a Question

Start a Discussion
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Search the MOTOROLA ADMIRAL™
Community
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Subscribe to MOTOROLA ADMIRAL™
Community
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MOTOROLA ATRIX™ 2
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Ask a Question

Start a Discussion
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Search the MOTOROLA ATRIX™ 2
Community
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Subscribe to MOTOROLA ATRIX™ 2
Community
SamanthaSine11
Weaknesses of the Motorola Owners’ Forum Site:
While the website is very effective in their communication models, they have some
flaws to work out:
-TIME: If you need a response right away, a blog or discussion forum may not be the
best way to receive an immediate answer, leading customers back to the one-to-one
method of communication. If they provided a link where customers can live chat in the
discussion boards, such as a chat room, this would speed up the process.
-ORGANIZATION: As they mention, the website is mostly organized by device. If
someone wants a specific question answered, it may be more effective if they also
organized by problem, and most common problems. The customer could search the
problem and a forum would pop up with discussions about that problem. That way
they receive the answer promptly and don’t have to go looking for it through endless
discussion pages for their “device.”
Conclusion:
In order for customers to talk with other customers just as much as the company they
should adhere to a one-to-many model of communication. This allows the customers to
build a sense of community, discuss the company’s products by starting conversations,
and have any questions or concerns answered in many different ways-not just by an
employee. Motorola successfully achieves this on their owners’ forum site and Infinity
Computer Company could so the same to broaden from one-to-one to one-to-many.
Barak, Erez. 3 Social Marketing Communication Methods: When & How to Use Them. N.p., 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 13
Apr. 2014. <http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2158216/3-Social-Marketing-Communication-MethodsWhen-How-to-Use-Them>.
Hochenauer, Kurt. Okie Funk. Ed. Kurt Hochenauer. 2 June 2006. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
<http://okiefunk.com/node/133>.
Markel, Mike. Technical Communication. 10thth ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 656-57. Print.
Motorola Owners' Forum. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. <https://forums.motorola.com/pages/home>.
SamanthaSine11