Classify communication services into two categories. Explain main features of each.

1. Communication services can be broadly categorized into two categories – Personal Communication and Mass Communication

2. Personal Communication refers to the communication that takes place between people at a personal (depends on person to person) level.

3. In India, the Indian Postal network is the largest in the world. It handles parcels and personal written communications including cards, envelopes, book packets etc. The telecom network in India also provides convenient services such as the twenty-four hour Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) telephone facility which has uniform rates across the country.

4. Mass Communication is for the masses i.e. it is a means of entertainment and also creates awareness among people about various national programmes and policies. It includes radio, television, newspapers, magazines, books, and films.

5. The All India Radio (Akashvani) broadcasts a variety of programmes in national, regional and local languages and the Doordarshan is one of the largest terrestrial networks in the world. Newspapers, journals and magazines on different topics and issues are also widely circulated in different languages across the country.

NOTE – Communication has undergone rapid changes in the modern times. As compared to the earlier scenario, long-distance communication has become very accessible and convenient today. Technology has played a major role in this process and has thus increased the mediums of communication such as social media platforms and messaging applications such as WhatsApp, facebook messenger, hike etc.