For this assignment, I paid attention to my interactions with others and found two specific instances where I selected specific media because of the type of message I wanted to send. First, I wanted to contact an old friend from high school who I had not spoken to in several weeks. Because of our lack of recent communication, I felt there was some tension in our relationship, so I wanted to hide in the most ambiguous medium possible. Thus, I decided to “poke” her on Facebook just to start the lines of communication flowing again.
My first example supports O’Sullivan’s model in relation to locus. The locus was myself because I wanted to tell my friend about events going on in my life. Even though I wanted to hear about her life as well, I would still classify myself as the primary locus. According to Hypothesis #2 in O’Sullivan’s model, when the locus is the self, mediated communication is preferred over face-to-face or telephone calls. I would not consider the valence to be negative, but instead it was uncertain. I was not sure if the outcome would be positive or negative. O’Sullivan states users looking for a positive reaction in regards to themselves will use mediated channels just in case the response does not live up to expectations. I agree with this statement because if I had been greeted with a flat tone on the telephone, I would have been disappointed.
Second, I called my brother on the telephone, which is a fairly routine practice. Since he is at a very antisocial stage in his teenage life, I wanted to use the richest medium possible to try and obtain the most information from him. If I had been home, I would have spoken to him face-to-face, but I had to settle for the telephone as the next richest form of media.
This interaction falls under the Media Richness Theory. The task, speaking to my brother about recent developments in his life, was equivocal. I did not have a specific, straightforward message to deliver to him, thus the topic of conversation was more vague then directed. Thus, my experience followed Media Richness Theory because I chose the rich media of the telephone for an equivocal task.
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2 comments:
Caryn,
I found your post very interesting because my experience with media selection was somewhat different. When I chose to contact an old friend, I used the telephone, a richer form of media, because I wanted to reconnect and have an actual conversation. I see your reasoning behind choosing a facebook poke as a buffer to prevent the potential awkwardness, but I doubt that it helped progress your relationship. As you explained this interaction definitely supports the O’Sullivan model because you chose a mediated form of communication when the locus was you and the valence was unclear. My interaction supported Media Richness Theory because I chose the most efficient form of communication possible. Even though we were in the same situation, we handled it differently and as a result, subscribed to opposite theories. I’m curious to know how your friend responded to your facebook poke and if your communication with her will progress to using richer forms of media. Overall, this post was very thought provoking for me, and especially well-written.
-Lindsay
Hi,
Your first point was a very good one finding good support for your claim in the hypothesis. Personally I disagree with the O'Sullivan model because for such a situation I would use a richer medium to establish contact. A poke on facebook is usually elicits a re-poke instead of any talking. This occurs frequently and contradicts both theories, more so the media selection than O’Sullivan. For media selection because reconnecting is a very equivocal task you would expect someone to respond on a much richer media, yet that often occurs less frequently.
On your second point I also agree with you but to play devils advocate because checking in with your brother is routine practice it takes away some of the ambiguity which could possibly mean the use of the leaner medium. For instance maybe an e-mail asking how’s life and talk about a few points yourself while saving time. This would support both models as it is the most efficient medium and there are no issues with clarity of what you mean. However your point was excellent and I do the same thing when I check in with my parents with a phone call. Great post!
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