After Thursdays class about the Media Richness Theory and O’Sullivan’s Model, I realized my actions communicating in everyday life often support both ideas.
Example 1: Saturday night my friends and I decided to have a few people over our apartment. We were all having a good time when suddenly my phone started to ring. As “Jessica calling” flashed across the screen, I realized that I forgot to invite her. Panicked, I immediately let the phone go to voicemail and instead sent a text message, “Hey sorry I missed your call, what are you up to tonight?” I did not think twice about texting because I wanted to communicate with Jess but knew it would be less akward than picking up the call.
O’Sullivans model asserts that people use communication technologies to help regulate impression management/self presentation. In my situation with Jess, picking up the phone would be more efficient, however I thought if she heard everyone in the background and realized I forgot, she would have a negative impression of me as a friend therefore I chose a leaner medium, text messaging. In this situation the valence was expected to be negative and the locus was myself and therefore I easily chose a mediated interaction further supporting O'Sullivan's Model. I felt as if texting was the "buffer" I needed to comfortably communicate in this situation.
Example 2: Today I was sitting in my room working on my homework, when I began thinking about the Career Fair tomorrow. I knew my roommate was also going so I decided to IM her, “What time are you going to the Career Fair?” Carrie, who was home at the time and has a room literally 10 feet away IMed me back with “Probably around 11.” I could have went into Carrie's room and asked her Face to Face but it was a simple, quick question and much easier to instant message despite her proximity.
According to the Media Richness Theory, we choose a rich media for more equivocal tasks and a leaner media less equivocal tasks. My situation with Carrie supports this theory because despite the fact she was 10 feet away I chose to IM her. If I went into her room, I would most likely go to ask her my question and end up chatting when I knew I had to finish my homework. IMing proved to be more efficient in this situation because I had a direct question the task was not ambiguous.
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Katelyn, I think that you posted great examples of social interactions in which you consciously chose specific media channels. Your first example, in which you screened your friend’s telephone call, and text messaged her, illustrates the thought process inherent in media channel selection that O’Sullivan discusses in his Impression Management Model. As you posted in your blog, O’Sullivan claims that individuals use communication technologies to regulate their self-presentations and impressions. Your conscious choice of a leaner communication medium in text messaging is consistent with O’Sullivan’s Impression Management Model because you chose a medium that would best protect your impression. Rather than confess to your friend that you did not invite her to your apartment, which is perhaps more awkward over a richer communication medium, you chose a mediated communication medium. This is consistent with O’Sullivan’s hypotheses, which state that when one’s own preferred impression is expected to be threatened, preferences for mediated channels will be higher.
Your second example, in which you IM a friend as opposed to talk to her FtF, definitely supports the Media Richness Theory. You understood beforehand that you had only an unequivocal task, and appropriately chose a leanest synchronous media channel.
Hi Katelyn, when I was writing my blog, I also noticed that different situations I communicated in supported different theories. I’ve often made the mistake of forgetting to invite a friend over, and often use texting or Instant Messenger to invite them over once I’ve realized my mistake, which you correctly identified as supporting O’Sullivan’s theory. I also IM my other housemates if I have something quick to tell them, or if it’s more equivocal I’ll send them a message to come to my room. I have found it’s much more easy and efficient, in line with Media Richness Theory.
Katelyn, I think you presented two very good examples of the Media Richness Theory and the Impression Management Model. Text messaging a friend instead of picking up the phone call illustrates O'Sullivan's theory that people choose a medium of communication based on the expected outcome of the conversation. Leaner channels, like text messaging, serve the purpose of a buffer. According to O'Sillivan, this is a conscious choice made by one who is expecting the valence to be negative.
In your second example, your experience is directly in line with the Media Richness Theory, which states that people always try to use the most efficient channel of communication. You realized that creating face to face communication was not neccesary, and you assumed that your friend would feel the same way. Communicating through instant message was the best choice for that situation.
Hey Katelyn, good call on ignoring the phone call Saturday night. Seeing as how you accidentally did not invite your friend over, you had reason to believe that the conversation might take a negative turn. By using text messaging, you set up a buffer that could protect you in case the conversation took a turn south. This matches up with O'sullivan's theory that people choose the medium based on their conceptions of how the interaction is going to go. You hypothesized your friend would be upset she wasn't invted, so you chose a leaner form of communication. Your second example was very good too, when you chose to IM a friend as opposed to dealing wit ha face to face interaction. It supports the Media richness theory, because you understood it was not an important task, so an im was appropriate. there was no need to solicit a face to face interaction when a simple one word answer would suffice. A lean media channel more than accomplished the necessary task.
Hello Katelyn. I thought your post really captured the way we choose our forms of communication for different tasks. I especially liked your first example. Sometimes texting and other lean media are very useful in avoiding those awkward social situations. By texting, you did not allow your friend to hear the other people in the background or the music. You still informed her of your gathering but spared her from feeling that she had been left out. Until I read your post, I could only think of instances in which efficiency dictated how I chose to communicate with someone. Your story reminded me of many instances that I used the right kind of medium to regulate self impression. But I think that one could also argue that texting was the most efficient way to express to your friend that you wanted her to come over as well. If you had called, you would have to apologize and explain why you forgot to call your friend. This would have caused you to leave the party and neglect your other friends who were already at the party, which is something you shouldn’t do as a host. By texting, not only did you quickly inform your friend of the gathering but you maintain your role as the host.
Hey Katelyn, you do an excellent job of using examples to portray two easily relatable ways in which media richness and the impression management model can apply using current technologies. I’ve found myself in similar situations to the ones you described in the past, and can easily relate to how the impression management model explains how we choose mediums that will give off the best impressions. Texting your friend instead of calling was an easy way to handle the situation without giving off the wrong impressions due to the extreme lack of cues involved in text messaging.
Your second example also does a good job of showing the media richness theory in action. For a task such as asking a friend who is in close proximity to you when she is going to the career fair, IM’s provide a lean and efficient means without being so effective as to keep you in a conversation when you should be doing homework.
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