Phone tree (renrakumou)
Overview
A phone tree (renrakumou) is a system for passing information along efficiently. Schools used to rely on phone trees. The teacher called the class representative, the class representative called the group leaders, and each group leader called the members of their group. Information was passed on one phone call at a time. If someone along the way wasn't home, the information stopped there.
In the age of social media, phone trees have changed shape. Send one message to a group chat on LINE (a messaging app widely used in Japan), and it reaches everyone at the same time. How fast information arrives is different from the days of the telephone, too.
Question boxes are a new kind of phone tree
A question box sometimes works as a kind of phone tree. "Did the meeting time for tomorrow change?" "What's on the test?" Answers to questions like these get posted publicly, and sometimes the information reaches followers too. The answer to one sender's question helps other people who have the same question.
What's interesting is that the question box version "doesn't start until someone asks." A phone tree by telephone flows one way, from the top down, but the question box version starts with the sender. The one who reaches out isn't the person who has the information (the person answering), but the person who needs it (the sender). This reversal is another difference from the telephone version.
Watch out for accuracy
When you use a question box as a phone tree, you need to watch out for accuracy. A wrong answer from the person answering can spread straight to followers.
When someone asks you about something you're not sure of, it's safer to answer honestly: "I haven't checked, so I don't know." Saying "I don't know" is more honest than giving wrong information with full confidence. A question box is a handy phone tree, but it can't replace official ways of getting in touch.