HTML5: Another skill for your communication arsenal?
With social media and technology altering the way information is shared and consumed, communicators have had to adopt new roles and skills in order to grapple with their ever-changing profession. In his recent blog post, Shel Holtz, ABC, IABC Fellow, provides communicators with yet another skill to add to their tool kit: HTML5.
Holtz argues that because communication is becoming increasingly mobile, HTML5’s popularity will also rise—allowing companies to send the same content to every type of operating system, rather than having to create multiple native apps. Because of this, Holtz explains that communicators should be able to understand the fundamentals of HTML5 and its impact on content creation and publication—especially regarding SEO—in order to manage their communication projects and campaigns effectively.
Molly Pierce, in an article for Communicate Magazine, has also argued the importance of communicators understanding HTML5, pointing to its ability to handle more sophisticated graphs, text and multimedia (heralding a new age for the online annual report, she notes), and its ability to unify multiple types of communication. Cathal Smyth, managing director of The Group, an online corporate communication agency, told Pierce:
“At the moment, people are trying to work out how all the communications strands fit together in an organization. All these silos are part of the same narrative—and everyone is trying to work out the most efficient way to communicate. Regardless of what wins—whether it’s marketing, internal comms, or any of the other functions, HTML5 should be able to incorporate all those messages.”
HTML5—a tool to help break down organizational silos? Sounds almost too good to be true. What are your thoughts on the future of HTML5 and the role of the communication professional?
