You may not have thought of gossip as a communication technology. But gossip is the first step in mediated communications. In this instance, the technological link is another human being. Rather than person A communicating information about self to person B, person C is conveying information about A to B.

Observers of human behavior have long noted that people spend significant amounts of time talking about others. Gossip is critical source of information about others. In addition to learning basic information about A, B also received information about C and that person's relationship to A.

Gossip can be summarized as:

	•	Synchronous (time) - The speaker and listener meet at the same time.

	•	Synchronous (space) - the speaker and listener are in close proximity.

	•	One way - When C tells B about A, the information exchange between A & B is indirect and at the time it is sent, one way. Only information from A to B is conveyed. No information from or about B is communicated to A.

	•	The original information was between A & C and stored in their brains. Final information transfer was between B & C and stored in their brains.