Over the last decade or two, being on the receiving end of the communication universe has become an overwhelming experience that requires novel skills and mindsets. We see primarily two factors that have been disrupting the consumption of media.
 
One is the explosion of available content which has not only become unmanageable but to a large extent also lacks editorial curation and control. Within the time span of one generation, we witnessed an evolution from a few TV networks to the million channel universe of streaming media; from a few national and regional newspapers to close to 200 million blogs, plus billions of websites, trillions of tweets, chats, facebook updates, and more.
 
The other is the advent of “social technologies” that allow for radically new participatory ways to deal with information. They enable a new quality of instant and networked interactivity that culminates in an ubiquitous sharing culture and transcends the traditional channels of feedback and reciprocity, redefining the linear paradigm of communication. At the same time, the proliferation of easy-to-use media editing software enables everybody to mash-up information and engage in creative ways of co-creation.
 
The answer to dealing with information overload lies not in the (hopeless) effort to process as much information as possible, but to develop an intuitive sense of what is important, trustworthy, and worth the time of a busy leader. Filtering technologies that selectively feed information or dashboards that provide easy-to-grasp overviews from multiple platforms are helpful to a certain extent; however, like time management systems and other working techniques they remain on an operational level only. The ability to “make sense of the noise” is a primarily strategic and creative challenge, and too much filtering and personalization of information-streams will create blinders and impede thinking beyond. Developing a network of trusted curators, and the conscious effort to remain curious – also in terms of new media platforms - are important elements when it comes to dealing with the receiving end of communication.
 
The other element of the “recipient literacy” relates to the way leaders engage in responding to information. In the world of linear communication, meaning is created through an interpretative process based on the recipient’s context and identity pattern. Not so in the realm of social media. Here the relevance of a message unfolds once the audience responds and further develops its meaning, by rating, sharing, commenting, liking, re-tweeting, annotating, and so on. In other words: Messages become powerful through socially mediated “co-creation”. It is the involvement of the audience that upgrades the content from “noise” to “value”. Leaders as recipients need engagement strategies, as this is the very place where acceptance of or resistance to messages will be built.
 
We look forward to explore and discuss this complex dimension in more detail. If you are a leader, please tell us about your experiences as a "recipient" in the social media world, and how you navigate in this universe. For instance:

• Do you find it worth your time to navigate social platforms in addition to traditional forms of communication (incl. e-mails)? If yes, how does this add value, how does it impact your work?
   
• How do you manage to select what is really important to you from the myriad sources of information? What are your criteria when it comes to participation in virtual platforms?
   
• How does the information you receive impact your willingness to get involved as an active contributor? What makes it likely/unlikely that you engage?
   
• How do you select the right channels to get information that is relevant to you, your marketplace or your employees?
   

From a more conceptual perspective, we are interested in deep-diving into question s such as:

• How does the social media engagement of a leader impact his or her identity within the organization?
   
• In a world of massive information overflow across multiple platforms and channels - what kind of filtering skills do leaders need? How can they set the right priorities? What role can filtering technology play in this context? What are its limitations?
   
• How important is digital literacy (in terms of familiarity with hardware, platforms, and solutions) compared to cognitive/executive skills?
   
• Communication has always been an integral part of organizational transformation efforts. How do we need to adapt traditional change management frameworks in a context where social technologies can drive resistance or acceptance in novel ways?
   

These are only examples, designed to inspire contributions. Let’s start the conversation!