The Power of Verbal Communication

In this video, communication scholars discuss the nature of verbal communication. We often think of verbal and non-verbal communication together, because most of our face-to-face communication uses both. However, verbal communication is the dominant factor online, and as a result needs to be carefully crafted to consider the nature of virtual environments. This video introduces many important points about the nature of verbal communication when it is isolated from the nonverbal elements that usually accompany it in the "real" world. Keep in mind that some scholars would define the visual characteristics of messages as nonverbal traits, even when their content is presented solely with words. So, although that distinction is not made in this video, remember that the "look" of verbal message, such as the typeface, size, use of color, length of paragraphs, graphics, and so on, must also be considered in virtual environments.