As I sat in the library perusing all the chat rooms I could enter, I chose the College Chat on ChatAvenue.com. I picked the username SBS427 so as to not expose my gender. There were 32 people in the chat room however very few people were talking. In fact, the first message I saw when I entered the room was from “Sox girl” and read “why isn’t anybody talking?” I took this as an opportunity to say “hey guys whats up?” Consequently, I received a private instant message from sox girl asking if I wanted to chat. I said sure and we began a short conversation.
I noticed that her chat icon was the NBC peacock symbol so I asked if she worked at NBC, thinking that perhaps we might have a common interest in the entertainment industry (I worked at ABC this past summer). Sox girl replied “no, I just like the peacock”. She then asked what the SBS in my username stood for and if it was like “CBS”. I didn’t really understand why she asked this, but I told her no, it stood for my initials. She then proceeded to ask the almighty A/S/L question and I said 20/F/NY. Upon my answering of this question she told me she had to go, and that maybe we’ll talk again soon. I am going to guess that Sox girl was looking for a male to chat with and once she heard I was female she no longer wanted to chat with me.
Even though I did not chat with Sox girl for a long time, I was still able to form an impression of her keeping in mind the “Big 5” traits. Her unwillingness to talk to me after I told her I was female gave the impression that she is not a very open person. Sox girl seemed extroverted when I first entered the chat room. She was upset that no one was talking and did not hesitate to send me a private instant message. I also got the impression that Sox girl was a bit of a phony when she told me that she had the NBC symbol as her chat icon because she liked the peacock. Seeing the NBC symbol when I first entered the chat room was what had caught my eye and sparked my interest in finding out more about Sox girl, and I was a bit disappointed when I learned that she was not an NBC employee, or even an NBC fan.
My experience in forming an impression of Sox girl follows Walther’s hyperpersonal model. I was only able to rate Sox girl on her extroversion and openness, thus the breadth of my impression was small. In addition, my impressions were intense, seeing as that although I had very few cues to evaluate Sox girl on, my concluding impressions were that she was outgoing, yet unintelligent, and on the prowl for a male to chat with.
Perhaps if I had not dissuaded Sox girl from chatting with me by telling her I was female, I would have been able to form a more thorough impression of her.
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It's such a coincidence that you posted about Sox girl. As I was skimming through chat rooms I also happened upon Sox girl and when I entered that chat room I had chosen the username, once again purely out of coincidence, cubsfan2007. My name immediately got some attention from her as we fought about the Cubs-Sox rivalry. I also got the impression that she was very extroverted, yet fairly narrow-minded. She must be a very frequent chatter in the room because while her symbol was NBC there were people with other broadcasting stations as well, including CBS and CNN, so it's very interesting that she asked you if your username was "like CBS." After I read your post and realizing that I had experienced the same thing, it really got me thinking about the community of people chat rooms create. Did all those people in the chat room know each other outside of that room or had they just chatted there so often they just kept coming back?
First, I’d like to tip my hat off to you for joining a chat room, Skyler; I couldn’t do it myself. Anyways, I find it very interesting how we stress the major social categories (age, gender, location) and trying to place the people we’re talking to in these categories while using computer-mediated communication. But, I guess it’s because it is the easiest way to form a visual image of this person. Your post also brought up another surprising point: how quickly we can formulate an impression. It seems like after only speaking with “Sox girl” for a few minutes, you ended up analyzing her personality based on the “Big 5.” It’s fascinating how we can take a few little words or abbreviations (text) and “hear” a tone of voice or “see” a reaction, like how you responded to her quick dismissal because you were female. I guess everyone is looking for something different in these chat rooms. Thanks for sharing your experience!
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