The Media landscape has become very challenging due to the convenient and extensive use

of Electronic communication. Due to its nature and accessibility, electronic communication is

being put to very exhaustive use by media organizations. Electronic communication provides
opportunities for audio communication, public displays, Telephonic service, mobile
telephones, text messaging, web, e-mail, fax etc. These benefits have really changed the
face of media communication the world over.

Electronic communication however, has other uncomplimentary applications. These include

junk mail, cold calling, spam mail, unwanted pop- up windows etc. these types of unwanted
Electronic communication cause interference, disruptions and sometimes even cause damage
to the equipment being used such as fax machines. The degree of tolerance applications
vary according to their nature.

With Junk faxes the sender usually bears the cost of stationary and the phone call.
However the recipient also incurs some cost in receiving the junk fax, this includes the cost
of paper ( stationary) toner, wear and tear on the receiving fax machine. In addition large
amounts of fax being received can engage the phone line and consequently block important
faxes from coming through. McCrindle, R.J. (2008)
Cold calling do not cost the recipient money as junk faxes do, the caller bears all the cost.
However such calls interrupt what the recipient may be doing and in addition engage the
phone line from receiving important calls. Therefore Junk faxes are worse than Cold calling.

E-mail spam is by far the most costly form of unsolicited advertizing to the recipient. In
terms of cost of download, spam cost the recipient more money than the sender. Spam also
waste a lot of staff time accessing and managing such mails. In addition, organizations spend
a lot of money installing and maintaining anti spam filters to block spam mails. Compared to
E-mail spam, junk SMS/MMS is more tolerable, there is a limit on the number of characters
that can be sent and the recipient does not bear any cost receiving the text message.
Therefore E-mail spam is worse than junk SMS/MMS.

Pop-ups pages are extra windows that are created while browsing; these can display
information that may not be wanted or useful to the user. They cause a lot of interference
during serious work. pop-unders are also created on Pop-ups windows and hijacks the window
until the main browser has been closed. This can cause the user to lose important
information during browsing or research. McCrindle, R.J. (2008)
It is sometimes difficult to ignore or get rid of Pop-ups and pop-unders since most of these
pop-ups are designed to obscure the desired content of the user and engage the user’s
attention. Therefore Web pop-ups and pop-unders can be extremely annoying.

The marketing communication advantages of unsolicited advertizing can be beneficial to

media organizations. However the effect on the end user can be unpleasant. There should be
a balance between the advertising benefits and the effects on the user.

References

1
Adams, A.A. & McCrindle, R.J. (2008) Pandora’s Box: Social and Professional Issues of the
Information Age. West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons. Ltd.