The Huge Difference Between Communication and Communications
Rant Ahead!
I've developed an involuntary twitch in my forehead. Every time I hear the superfluous “S” at the end of communication. You might be thinking “Oh Michelle, you are being silly – it's just an extra “S” what difference does it make?”
There is a HUGE divide between communication and communications. Saying there is not is like saying PEZ candy and dark chocolate
are the same thing – they're both candy right?
The difference between communication and communications
CommunicationS is a system for transmitting information – think telephone, TV,Ā fiber optics.Ā Communications is technology. Your cable guy – he's a communications professional.
Communication involves individuals exchanging messages. Communication is human. It's people. Communication is connection. It's soulful. It's what we do every single day.
I had a recentĀ altercationĀ with a well-known “communications expert” (his S not mine) on Forbes. He wrote an article about the key to leadership is communications. After reading the article, I knew he wasn't discussing communications technology. He was talking about human interaction.
I felt the twitch and left a comment.
He told me “Alas, the people use communications. I'm with the people.” He also threw in the wordĀ pedantic. Two problems with this:
1. If you claim to speak the language of the people, you can't use words like “pedantic” or “alas” that just makes you look like an ass.
2. If you are an expert and sell your services as a communication coach, you should know the difference. If you're an authority, people learn from you. You are the conduit of correct information. Using the word that is at the core of your business incorrectly hurts your credibility.
Bottom line:Ā Buyer beware – if you're reading an article or considering a hiring a coach and you see the extra “S,” keep looking unless you need your TV or telephone fixed.
P.S. If you enjoyed this post, check out my 4 steps to finding a speech topic that clicks.
LOL…you and my buddy Professor David Weber – as you well know…
I know. I finally decided to blog about the S. I figure if Bruce can rant on his blog – I can rant on mine.
Hi Michelle. I see your point, but I think some communication professionals call themselves communicationS professionals because they are dealing with different communication tools and media which could–and often do–include the use of technology and different platforms. Also, could they be referring to the various communication messages/messaging to different parties and that’s why they pluralize it?
Please let me know your thoughts!
Hi Mindy – Thanks for your comment. If they are dealing with different tools and technologies – then they are communicationS professionals. If they are dealing with human interaction, then it’s communication with no “s”. If you are communicating via phone, Internet and cable TV – then that is communicationS tool.
Dear Michelle, thanks for your interesting and very pleasantly readable blogpost.
We’re about to set up a new Communication and/or CommunicationS agency.
In our case, we think, it is not an “either or” – situation but an “as well as” situation.
Dear Michelle, what Shall we do š ?
Oh that is a tough one!! Can you get away with not using communication in your agency title? Creativity goes a long! š
I’ve been waiting for this rant! Glad to see it materialize.
Love this line: “If you claim to speak the language of the people, you canāt use words like āpedanticā or āalasā that just makes you look like an ass.” Yep! Exactly!
Lauren I was wondering if you would comment since you got the brunt of my rant when this happened. It was time to put this out here!
LOL Loved this line too!
First of all – I rarely, if ever laugh out loud in partnership with the author when I read a blog post. Today, I laughed not at you but most certainly with you. I 100% agree with you on why that little pesky “s” makes a big difference. You rock, Michelle!
Thank you Alli! I felt a little petty at first pointing out this difference to this individual. You are right the “S” makes all the difference. I still don’t understand how an “expert” cannot know the difference!
So you get the twitch eh? Very funny but true post. Yes, the S does matter! The word communication has its roots in the Latin word meaning to share. We all know that we can use communications but we don’t communicate! Communication needs a sender, a message, and a recipient, whereas communications usually needs a plug! Thanks Michelle.
I do get a twitch. My forehead just jumps up and down! If I am wearing my glasses it gets super annoying. Love the communications needs a plug. It’s a great way to remember the difference.
Great article. Thanks so much for enlightening me on that. Being a writer, I try to keep learning about words, and this was a good one to learn.
You are welcome. It’s a mistake that I hear quite a lot even by “experts”. Good luck with your writing!
I’ve been fighting with this very subject lately. I successfully convinced the VP of Academic Affairs to make sure that our upcoming concentration in Liberal Arts is Communication (no S). However, I’ve had other folks look at me like I have 3 1/2 heads when leave the S off the human process of communicating.
I’m curious, when was this distinction officially made? The first time I heard anyone make the distinction was six years ago when I talked to a communication professor.
Hi Eddie. Thank you for your question and comment! if you look up communication vs. communications in the dictionary that is where the difference come from. According to Webster’s, Communications is technology based and communication is human based. People tend to use them interchangeably though. It doesn’t make it correct though, right?
Thank you so much!! I’m studying Bachelor or Business and Professional Communication and my lecturer just confused the hell out of me! This cleared everything up and will make studying this subject so much easier!!!!
I’m glad this helped you Jessie! It’s such a small thing, and communication professionals use it interchangeably, but there is a big difference. Good luck in your studies!
Thank you Michelle for this wonderful post. I am a communication (this is the first time I am using it without the ‘s’) professional and am associated to http://www.wordsmith.com.pk and the communication department of Pakistan’s largest cellco. I blog at wordsmith as a means to spreading information about corporate comm and PR and in Pakistan. This helps me with my content marketing for wordsmith, a platform I provide consulting, PR, training and content services from.
I must admit that your blog has helped me identify a grave mistake that I have been making over the years. After reading your blog and making some research online, I have decided to make the change on all my past posts on the blog, my linkedin group that I have already changed the name for a few minutes back and all my future communication. I will also blog about it for my audience and reference your blog post there as well.
Thank you again for clarifying this for all of us.
Wooh-hoo! I am so happy that I helped you so much and made so much of a difference.You’ve made me smile.
Hi, Michelle!
I am staring at the following paragraph: “Project coordination will occur with other MDOT disciplines including ….. We will keep a Project Record, although we anticipate that most, if not all, written communication will be electronic. Electronic communication can be provided in pdf format, if desired.” I believe none of the occurrences needs an “s”, but I’m looking for validation. Thanks & thank you for your post!
Hi Michelle,
How did I end up here? Well, I opened up my new marketing textbook and found Marketing Communications. As an advocate for the differentiation of Communication and Communications, I froze. I quickly closed the book and ran a google search, leading me to you! Why was it communications here versus communication? I mean, marketing communications encompasses both communication and communications, but why choose the latter over the former?
Oh, your point #2- fantastic! This rule should be applied in life in general.
Yours,
a once-clear, B.A. international communication confused MBA student.
Thanks for stopping by Paul! Glad you found me. I think for marketing communications now we are getting into grammar land. If you have multiple modes, then you’d want to use the plural form. That’s the easiest explanation for me anyway. š
Glad I could clarify it for you!
Love this article! I am a communication major and this is pounded into my head on a daily basis. I get that twitch now as well. Thank you!
You’re welcome! The twitch is a powerful thing.
So true,
I started the fight against S 1996 when I became Manager Internal Communication at a global telecom company. Coming from the advertising industry I realised that people like me had sold Communications solutions to companies that thought they where buying Communication solutions for a long time. The result was that managers believed that they where communicating when publishing things on the intranet. Instead of actually communicating, companies religiously believed that these superchannels should create motivated employees.
Johan, you’re the first person to comment on this from the other side of the communication/communicationS divide. Great point about organization thinking that communicating is spamming on their intranet (where no employee goes). In some cases communications cannot replace human communication.
It’s interesting to me that most Universities offer a degree in “communicationS” or Marketing CommunicationS” not communication.
I think the common usage of a word eventually dictates its correctness, and like all words, the “correct” use migrates over time.
What is your theory on that?
Hi Shari! I don’t think I agree with you. Let’s take the word irregardless. It’s not really a word I know, but many people use it to mean the same thing as regardless. It still doesn’t mean that it’s correct. You’ll still get corrected for it.
I’m not sure which universities you speak – if it’s Mass Communications and Marketing Communications (traditional marketing mix, advertising, etc.) then yes that is the correct usage because it’s tech. I got my degree at Oklahoma in Communication, and I have many friends who have Ph.D. from Communication Departments and teach at communication departments. It really depends on the University and what the curriculum is.
Hi, Iām currently writing a manual for a product and have come across the communication / communicationS question which has lead me here. I should say that Iām in the UK in case that makes a difference! The description of communication as human based and communications as āstuff with a plugā sounds very reasonable to me, however Iām having great difficulty backing that up with dictionary definitions.
For example the Collins English Dictionary gives a definition of communicationS as āthe ways in which human beings communicate, including speech, gesture, telecommunication systems, publishing and broadcasting media, etc; the study of thisā and then defines communication in several broad ways including āsomething communicated, such as a message, letter, or telephone callā and āa connecting route, passage, or linkā.
This dictionary definition points to CommunicationS involving humans communicating and states that communication can be a connecting link which could very easily be Outlook, a modem, radio data link, etc ā all stuff that you are arguing should be under the umbrella of communicationS.
I would very much like to use the correct term, but I have looked at several dictionaries and none of them seem to give the clear distinction that you are discussing. Communication is usually defined in a variety of ways and one of them is always broad enough to include what you are arguing should be communicationS and also vice versa.
Iām not looking to be pointed towards one definition that does agree with your argument as that probably exists somewhere ā the problem is that there are a host of other very reputable sources that donāt seem to agree.
Having read a lot of definitions of communication and communicationS this afternoon(!) I am getting a general feeling that communication refers more to a message that is being transferred and the act of transferring it and communicationS is a broader term that covers the technology as well.
In case you are interested, my particular use of the term relates to one piece of equipment sending a message to another piece of equipment and the subject is the message itself ā not the technology used to transfer the message.
It may be that the definitions you are discussing apply more to the marketing / publicity sector and Iām trying to apply these terms more generally which is why Iām having difficulty making them fit the definitions? I would however be most interested in your comments.
Your initial definition from Collins dictionary sounds like it is a plural form of communication. For example, in a court case one’s lawyer might point out that the defendant and his alleged mistress had many communications (plural of communication) in that they talked via phone, letters, in passing, etc… We’re not talking about a technology field.
This has been my pet peeve forever. Thanks for this, I can add it to this blog that’s been hanging in my office for several years.
http://joshuadelung.blogspot.com/2009/02/communication-vs-communications-what-is.html
Even Department of CommunicationS get is wrong a good portion of the time. Thank goodness Brian Lamb School of Communication does it rightā¦whew.
What about Presentation vs Presentations?
That ones easy! Presentation = 1 and presentations = more than 1.
Thank you. This is very helpful.
Here is a paragraph that has a ‘communications’ word.
“Digital Media design elements and content. How to craft messages using common content blocks such as brand, text, numbers, images, motion, time, and video. This also leads to the understanding of various media formats and their effects on digital communications. ”
I suppose the correct usage should be “digital communication” and not “digital communications” as used in the paragraph above.
No. From what she is saying, this is the proper use of communicationS. DIGITAL communicationS. (not human)
Realy intrstng article…..I learn a lo cos am currntly preparing my seminar presnttion on this topic…more grease to ur elbow michelle
Just found your post on communication vs. communications. Hilarious! So happy that I changed my own title years ago to director of communication. I kept wondering why anyone would add an “s.” It goes back to my least favorite business excuse: “Because it’s how we’ve always done it.” Thank you, Michelle.
Don’t agree at all with what you are saying…most non-English speakers would probably say “communication” vs. adding the “s’ and reading the line (by Joyce) above me on the title…Communication Director…is not correct.
It’s similar to using the word “outraged” rather than “enraged”, it is now very and probably more used by most English speaking people…
My daughter is a senoir in college and is studying Communication. She has the same twitch you do!! It drives her crazy when people meld the two.
Amen! I have a Masters Degree in Communication and would have to take several deep breaths when former students would say they were a communications major. If we were to follow this Forbes article author’s reasoning, we would need to prepare for journal articles to have “lol” and “R U 4 Realz” in the published text. And if he is with the people on this, he sounds more like a sheep than a leader. Baaaaaaah
Communication may also involve machines exchanging messages. It means the act of communicating (human or machines), whereas communications describes a method or tool that facilitates communication. See Merriam-Webster.
So, I’m clear on the difference between communications and (same word with an s) but I’m unclear on the grammar aspect as it relates to marketing communication(s). If we are talking about a marketing communications campaign…multiple communication pieces throughout…can that be plural. Or, is it a marketing communication plan, no “s”?
Yes – I feel this twitch all the time, especially when other people order my corporate business cards and add the S. Argh! Thank you for clarifying the point.
Thank you, I really enjoyed reading this. ā
Thank you! I have this discussion with my students all the time and inevitably still hear them referring to themselves as Communications majors! My twitch comes with an audible growl. I’ve just added your post to my Intro to Comm course this fall and will probably make my seniors read it too so they don’t make the same mistake when they’re on the job market!
Hey all! I’m closing the comments thread on this post. It’s not the focus of my business and I wrote this post as a fun rant. I don’t have time to respond to your comments or engage in a debate about what I wrote here. I stand by this post, and I hope it helps you all.
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