The most important communication innovations are still ahead of us. Technologies and phenomena that will change corporate communication

New technologies that are already changing our communication paths will also significantly change corporate communication in the future. Together we will create new media. The most popular formats will be those remixed and rearranged the most. We will use artificial intelligence in communications even more, because in many areas it is simply more effective than humans. A strong trend will be digital activism, which supports so-called brand activism – we are in a difficult time today, but technologies help us. It is quite a compelling vision of what is ahead.

We will create new media together

Creating new media and communications tools will not only be the domain of companies' communication, their information policy. D. Jemielniak and A. Przegalińska talk about the phenomenon of media co-production, partner production, consumer co-production, digital socialism, and the co-creation of knowledge[1]. Economists popularize terms such as ‘the sharing economy’, ‘collaborative economy’, and ‘the collaborative society’. Today’s rule is that we share what we think, read, and hear and what concerns us. And in order to create, edit, publish or distribute the media, no professional preparation is necessary. Well... the journalistic environment has not been the only one authorized to create articles, portals and blogs (the content that is the driver of Facebook or Twitter is created without the participation of journalists or editors). Similarly, the academic community has not had a monopoly on the creation and sharing of knowledge for a long time – which is demonstrated by e.g. the Wikipedia case. All this means that – as emphasized by D. Jemielniak and A. Przegalińska – "we have moved from authoritative creation of knowledge and its popularization towards a cooperative network system"[2]. And this is a very important conclusion and quite an attractive vision.

Collective knowledge and intelligence scales extremely easily. New technologies operate according to the "amplify what is" principle. At the same time, they allow us to interact with news, stories (see: program recording, playback, linking, saving, cutting, pasting) and create any forms. Most importantly, the tools of "digital creativity" have become so available that users do not need special skills to create a song, video or even e-book – the audience directs, arranges songs, takes photographs, and thus the status of creativity has changed. Millions of people started making videos and uploading them to YouTube. There is a standard, therefore, that we provide or modify formats that have already been created – also copyright licenses allow us.

Huge opportunities have arisen with Creative Commons licenses, which allow users to replace "All rights reserved" with "Some rights reserved". When using the license, the creator always keeps the copyright, but allows others to copy, distribute or create works based on the original. Creative Commons is designed to support free culture and the popularization of free licenses; in practice, they allow the improvement of existing works without the need to obtain formal permits. And the same rules apply to such licenses as the GNU General Public License, used by many open source projects.

So, it may turn out that, what happened with music (we can all create it), film or photography will also be taken over by other media, and then other industries. If amateurs can make and post ads, why can't customers and fans create ads themselves? However, will financial institutions, for example, encourage their clients to prepare advertisements for credit cards or mortgage loans ...? I like the idea of K. Kelly, who is convinced that ads will be created by passionate customers, users and virally injected into blogs, where the best of them will be evaluated, tested and changed until they are effective. Of course, bold, innovative start-ups or smaller companies with small advertising budgets will decide first[3]. I think that this approach will also be interesting for well-known, global brands that will go beyond the traditional forms and create alternative, engaging communication formats on the Internet.

That's why I like initiatives such as a song that was written with BLIK. More precisely: from among the titles of BLIK transfers to the phone sent by fans, Igor Walaszek chose the most interesting and prepared the song (the premiere took place on Facebook). Similarly, an interesting phenomenon is how many e-books are currently being created using free tools available on the web... On my Instagram I see, for example, "E-book about hashtags" or e-book "About e-book publishing". And on Facebook, Microsoft asks me if I want to build an application… “Thanks to the Power Apps drag-and-drop interface, it's easy and intuitive. Anyone can create applications " – I read in the content of the sponsored post, which refers to the instructions for creating applications on a dedicated page on Facebook.

The most popular media and communication formats will be those that are rearranged and remixed the most

Technologies give us unprecedented freedom to create alternative media and communications tools. “Due to the high variability of digital bits, forms are easily transformed into hybrids. Over the next 30 years, the increasing bit fluidity will determine the shape of digital media, favoring great remixing (...) Taking a different form is an inherent function of digital media”[4].

Free tools allow users to make music to order: remixing tracks or sampling sounds (creating a digital sound sample from an analog source and then combining it with sounds stored in a digital code). Amateurs use music found on the internet or recorded at home, cutting and rearranging scenes, introducing new text and thus creating completely new stories. They make music based on artificial intelligence solutions. All mashups (music, video) are remixes (music mashups include such genres as: blend, cut and paste mix, lesson, cut-up, glitch). But... commercials and movie trailers are also remixed – they can be easily transformed into alternative stories, such as trailers for movies that not exist.

SketchUp's 3D model resources include detailed virtual models of most of the world's buildings. So, it is not a problem to recreate the selected scenery for a film. Ready-to-use objects, "phrases" can be combined to create a movie – a mashup of available clips and virtual scenery. Media theorist Lev Manovich calls it a database movie – it is the film component databases that create the new structure of film language. Databases are at the heart of the theory of new media – according to L. Manovich, new media are analogue forms of media converted to digital forms. Their feature is that they allow free access to data and are interactive, which means that we can interact with the media object[5].

New technologies arise as combinations of existing technologies – this is the concept of Stanford economist W. Brian Arthur. Likewise, innovators combine the earlier genres of simpler media with more complex ones in original ways, thus creating an infinite number of new solutions[6]. "In 30 years, the most important cultural works and the most popular media will be the ones that are remixed the most"[7]. With the development of digital technologies, we will create more and more innovative content, i.e. re–arranged communication tools and new media.

What direction will we go? We are people of images and screens – we are attracted to computer screens, iPhones and virtual reality goggles. Screen culture is a culture of constant flows, quick editing, tweets, and instastories. And because the future of technology depends – to a large extent – on the discovery of new interactions (human – technology), the possibilities of virtual reality and augmented reality are still unknown to us today. Companies in their communications (communication with customers, corporate communication) will take over the new media, because they have to use the same formats that are used by their customers, fans, employees and share (in a networked world) the same modes of communication.

We will use AI even more, which in many areas is better than humans

In my article ?How will AI change the communication” (?Jak sztuczna inteligencja zmieni komunikacj?”) I wrote, together with ?ukasz Majchrzyk, about AI solutions that we can already use in marketing communications and public relations, such as press releases prepared by NLG (natural language generation), conversion of speech to text, translation of audio recordings or texts into many languages, image recognition software or facial recognition software, NLG used for test and language recognition[8]. Similarly, "in the advertising dimension, so many communication channels suddenly appeared that all our clients in the world rejected what was the most important until now – the quality of the message, and turned to martech and adtech start–ups, which began to offer various quick forms of communication to the market” – says T. Pawlikowski, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Poland at Publicis Groupe[9]. Technologies and AI are great amplifiers – they maximize what we have. "Apple or Google operate according to the amplify what is principle. Whatever you have, whatever the system, you will get its multiplied mechanism through technology".[10] Some advanced analytical tools based on AI used in communication and marketing are an example of cobotics, i.e. close cooperation between AI and humans:

– AI will profile an advert much better than a human. Amazon, Google, Facebook can use algorithms to predict customer behaviour from their digital footprints and create models of consumer behaviour. In turn, companies use algorithms that help in the functioning of their social networks or obtaining sales leads. Algorithms allow one to organize and then periodically reorganize communities that have arisen around brands.

– Bots operating on the Internet support marketing campaigns or generate reach by writing comments and articles. The bot will also help marketers in collecting information and then, for example, in preparing a campaign brief.

– Project Debater (IBM computer) is the first AI system that discusses with humans – it is a very advanced machine learning system. It can use an impressive set of remembered source information (including press and scientific texts). It takes a few minutes to go through the entire resource, choose the best arguments and present them in a discussion.

– AI is a great solution for consulting reports because it perfectly builds a broad picture of the issue being analysed. The bot collects data on an ongoing basis and aggregates it into sequences ready for publication in the report.

– Facebook supports AI by implementing machine learning technologies to protect people from harmful content. The Paris FAIR uses AI to verify the content posted on the website (compliance with the rules of use). Facebook reports that AI is currently actively detecting and removing 94,7% "hate speech" (compare 80,5% of content deleted a year ago and only 24% in 2017)[11].

– Based on AI, Facebook enables automatic translation of posts in real time. Facebook Portal (tablet for video chat) crops the image itself (it has a so-called “smart frame”), equipped with the Alexa voice assistant (Amazon), establishes connections via Messenger. Yet another example – we have been able to post 3D photos on Facebook's News Feed for some time.

– Google's AI translation service turns a phone into a personal translator. We can speak English into the microphone, while the phone repeats what was said in understandable Mandarin, Arabic and dozens of other languages. Likewise, Microsoft's Skype translates automatically from one language to another.

– Google’s computer prepares an accurate description of the photo it will receive. It is skilled at describing what is happening in a series of photos.

Digital activism and brand activism are becoming more and more important trends – today we are in a difficult time, but technologies help us

We choose brands that bring values and ideas that we, as customers, consumers or employees, can share. That is why brand activism and building responsible brands are a clear global trend today – companies take a position on what they consider to be good for society and adapt their activities in the direction that closest to them. But it also means that they should be active with their message on the web through the so-called on-line activism, digital campaigns, digital activism, e-campaigns and e-activism.

?ukasz Ko?ciuczuk from the "Rak'n'Roll" Foundation and Jakub Mo?aryn from the "Visible Hand" Group recently shared their experiences in the field of digital activism in a Facebook podcast[12]. Many important conclusions emerge from their speech. Digital activism and digital media (publishing, updating and sharing information) make it easier for people to take their first steps in any activism. "Digital activism is a certain tool for us, and the Internet is an infrastructure to do what we believe in Rak'n'Roll" – explains ?ukasz Ko?ciuczuk. Digital media (and new technologies) extend the reach of certain ideas (we reach a huge group of people all over the world) and make it as easy as possible to find people who share our values. Activist campaigns provide a quick response (you can see immediately how actions are evaluated) and a sense of agency. "The impulse to take up activist activity is the willingness to participate in a certain change, especially when I see that my activity is effective" – says ?ukasz Ko?ciuczuk.

Jakub Mo?aryn points to another aspect. “Our goal – more than helping – is learning to help. This is what we need to learn as a society because COVID is just one of the crises. The climate crisis lies ahead. We need to learn how to create mutual aid groups. The Internet space creates an opportunity for us to activate society to civic exercises” – he emphasizes. The “Visible Hand” initiative is a network for a mutual aid group during COVID. It was established so that, shopping, providing emotional help, organizing computer equipment for children. The problem that arose from the very beginning was related to how to reach digitally excluded people. However, the Internet turned out to be an... "interface". “Even – when groups organize themselves in the network – they go outside the network very quickly. The needs of people who do not use the Internet are also reported on the Internet” – emphasizes Mo?aryn.

"Humanity is at a turning point today and it needs unity" – explains ?ukasz Ko?ciuczuk and talks about the Rak'n'Roll Music initiative. The idea behind this project is that musicians set up fundraisers on Facebook and, in a gesture of gratitude to those who added something to the fundraising, they release a new clip, a song. The result is a new genre called Rak'n'Roll Music.

Technology must be human–oriented

Facebook AI Research (FAIR) in Paris emphasizes that they work in the open source formula – they publish codes related to conducted research, which creates space for further development (frameworks can be used by companies or other scientists)[13].

Today we are testing the potential of new technologies and AI very intensively (and of course, going far beyond the sphere of communications, which I am describing here). However… the essence is… what we manage to create in the future must be human–centered.  “This could be the best use of human and technological computational potential. This approach is related to the democratization of technology, not its imposition"[14]. "The modern system of culture and technology accelerates the creation of impossible things by developing new ways of social organization (...) Most of the most amazing communication innovations have not yet been invented”[15].

[1] D. Jemielniak, A. Przegalińska, Spo?eczeństwo wspó?pracy (Collaborative society), Scholar, Warszawa 2020

[2] Op.cit., p. 95

[3] K. Kelly, Nieuniknione (The Inevitable), Poltext, p. 261

[4] Op.cit. p. 271 – 274

[5] L. Manovivh, J?zyk owych mediów (The Language of the New Media), ?o?graf, 2011

[6] W. Brian Arthur, The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves, Free Press, New York 2011

[7] K. Kelly, op.cit., p. 294

[8] K. ??d?o, ?. Majchrzyk, Jak sztuczna inteligencja zmieni komunikacj? (How will AI change the communication), www.mobirank.pl

[9] A. Przegalińska, P. Oksanowicz, Sztuczna inteligencja. Nieludzka, arcyludzka (Artificial intelligence. Inhuman, archhuman), Znak, Warszawa 2020, p. 188

[10] A. Przegalińska, P. Oksanowicz, op.cit., p. 173

[11] https://ai.facebook.com/blog/how-ai-is-getting-better-at-detecting-hate-speech/

[12] Facebook Talks. About digital activism, ?. Ko?ciuczuk, J. Mo?aryn

[13] Facebook Talks, About research on AI at Facebook, P. Bojanowski

[14] A. Przegalińska, P. Oksanowicz, Sztuczna inteligencja. Nieludzka, arcyludzka (Artificial intelligence. Inhuman, archhuman), p. 196

[15] K. Kelly, op.cit., p. 379 – 380