1. 2.7 Communication Methods
IT Research – Bailey Harrison

2. SMS – Short Messaging Service
This is the text messaging service of telephone systems.
It uses standardised communication protocols in order for other phones to be able to communicate.
This was used by about 80% of all phones at the end of 2010 (around 3.5 billion active users)

3. Email This first begun to be used in the 1960s.
Modern use a store and forward model. This means they are stored in servers and are forwarded a copy to the recipients.
This is where messages can be sent across the world wide web to servers and then other computers through an address.
There can be webmail and client based mail, web being based on a cloud server.

4. Messaging Software
Some messaging software is called IM or instant messaging. Examples include Skype, WhatsApp and many more. These have very little delay between your message being sent and the recipient receiving the message so conversations can be ‘live’.
There is also SMS which uses mobile signal and mobile providers to work using a mobile and data signals.
is also a form of messaging software.

5. Social Networking
Examples include: Facebook, Skype, Twitter, Instagram and many more.
They are used to connect multiple people together across the internet and are very widely used.
They can also transmit multimedia such as videos and files and pictures.

6. VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol is a method of being able to send and receive phone calls using your broadband Internet Protocol instead of landline connections across the web.
These have recently become popular as it does not require a line rental fee as the phone lines are not used and therefore can be cheaper for some.

7. Personal Assistants Examples of these are ‘Siri’ and ‘Cortana’.
They can help the user to complete simple tasks using voice commands such as scheduling a meeting or searching something on the web.
They are inbuilt into Operating Systems such as Windows 10 and Apple iOS.

8. Teleconference
A teleconference is a meeting involving multiple participant.
It may involve two groups of people sharing the same speaker phone.
It can be used for meetings with groups of people.

9. Video Conference
This is similar to teleconference apart from the participants would also have a live video feed from a camera so they can see the other participants.
A common example of this is Skype.
It could involve two groups sharing a phone, speaker and camera conversing with another group or each could individually have a video feed and could be in totally different locations from eachother.

10. Cellular/Satellite
A mobile system which uses a number of short range radio stations to cover a particular area in which it can serve.
It is used by mobile phones in order to connect to other mobile phones wirelessly using electromagnetic signals sent to and from telephone masts.

11. Instant Messaging
Common examples include WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook IM.
These are services which provide instant messaging so when somebody sends a message, the recipient can view it live with very little delay allowing for ‘real-time’ conversations with people.