It has been 1.5 years since the Covid-19 Pandemic has lasted until now. A new habit that occurs today is the existence of virtual communication by the internet such as social media (whatsapps, line, IG, Twitter), email, blogs and others. With virtual communication, we cannot have a direct face to face communication, but we only can do communication with face to screen even though we are in different locations. Whether it is long distance, inter-islands, inter-provinces or inter- continental, communication can be easily done virtually.

Virtual communication is a trend that has now occurred in every parts of the world and even in many aspects of life, exactly at home, at offices, schools, many types of communities and others. With the internet network, we can interact with anyone from anywhere. Devices that can be used for this virtual communication are computers, mobile phones and other devices connected to the internet. Now, that devices are owned by many people because it is now a major need. Moreover, the price of mobile phones is a lot cheaper this time with a fairly large specifications.

The existence of this virtual communication is intended to avoid face-to-face meetings which might be resulted in the transmission of the corona virus. This is reinforced by the government's social distancing policy and the establishment of health protocols.

Currently, offices have implemented virtual communication by zoom or google meet for meetings. This virtual communication is a paid service from the office , so that the employees will be able to keep in touch with each other easily. There is a share screen function that makes it easier for presenters or speakers to share their presentation materials.

Virtual communication is a mean of communication that must be implemented or mandatory during this pandemic. Whereas the capacity of people who can attend via zoom or google meet can be in the number of hundreds of people. Moreover, for now offices have implemented WFH (work from home) and WFO (work from office) mechanism. The employees are divided into several shifts for WFH and WFO according to government recommendations. For employees who in WFH mechanism, they can still do their jobs and can join meetings even when they are at home and far away.

Until now, learning at schools is done virtually. The students don’t need to go to school and meet their teachers and schoolmates. But simply learning from home through virtual communication with the teacher. The name of the learning is distance learning. Distance learning for students are using internet media such as whatsapp, zoom and google meet application. All mentioned above must use video teleconferencing method where teachers and students meet face to face via screen. The drawback is that students often do not concentrate on listening to their teacher's explanations because there are many disturbances that occur at home. Moreover, if students do not understand, the teacher cannot provide detailed explanations to students.

With this pandemic period, existing communities can no longer hold face to face meetings. Everything now has to be completely online. Especially for the blogger community, which used to often hold face-to-face meetings in many places. Everything can only be done through virtual both on social media, zoom and google meets.

After the explanation of virtual communication above, here are the types of virtual communication that can be used during the pandemic, exactly:

One type of virtual communication is video calls. This type of communication requires an internet network either through a computer or mobile phone. With this communication, you can see your interlocutor through the screen on a computer or mobile device. You can not only listen to the voice but can also see the face of the other person on the screen.

This type of virtual communication, you can communicate with your interlocutor only through written messages. No face to screen. So only to sending text, pictures and videos. Services that use this call are WhatsApp Chat, Line Chat, SMS or Short Message Service and so on.

This type of virtual call communication is communication by telephone. So you can only listen to the voice of the other person through a media call. Media calls that can be used a mobile phones or computers by installing the available applications.

The three types of virtual communication above are widely used by people today. The convenience of technology and information makes virtual communication easy too. Distance is no longer a barrier to communicating with others. In a short time even just a matter of seconds, sharing messages can be done. No wonder nowadays news or information that occurs in other parts of the world quickly spreads through online media in just seconds. This ease of communication allows us to get information easily.

Virtual communication is important, especially during a pandemic. This is intended so that people can still be creative and productive in their activities. People must be technology literate in order to adapt to current conditions. This is the era of virtual communication with technology as the main medium. Distance and time are no longer a barrier to communication. However, in this virtual communication, it is also necessary to pay attention to good communication ethics.