When choosing a communication medium, the first things we think about are our audience and our message. These two aspects dictate which interactional channel would work best for self-presentation and impression management. Before we communicate, we decide which channel (phone, email, IM, etc.) is best suited to deliver our message to our target audience.
One instance where I had to choose a communication medium was about a month ago after I met with a Cornell alum, a V.P. at a financial services firm in
In a separate incidence, I also chose a lean channel (instant messaging) to communicate with an acquaintance. However, I did not choose this media because my task was less equivocal. My acquaintance was about my age and we began corresponding through IM as a means of getting to know each other, which is not a simple task that could be answered in one or two sentences (which is often associated with the use of lean media). Instead, this lean medium was chosen because of it is relatively synchronous and it allows for better impression management. This channel selection more closely follows O’Sullivan’s Impression Management Model, where the choice of leaner media forms a buffer, in which one can selectively present certain qualities, characteristics, etc. It was not important how efficiently we corresponded; it was more about the buffer of clarity and ambiguity that lies in online impression formation.
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2 comments:
Hey Samantha, I thought you had great clarity with your #3 post. I completely agree with your decision deciphering between the Media Richness Theory and O'Sullivan's Impression Management Model.
To address your second point about choosing a leaner media to ensure a buffer between you and the previously unknown peer you got me thinking about the age factor. In my opinion, because the online form of communication has not been this widespread for generations before ours; I think our age groups gravitate to using it more often. I feel as though if you had been communicating with an acquainted who was older than thirty there is a much better chance you would have chosen a media off the web. Whereas it is commonly accepted that any middle school aged child to twenty year old would be assumed to be familiar with and regular on IM and facebook and so on. Additionally I feel as though older generations use and understand email more so than IM or something like myspace. This would be because older generations that didn't use the internet for social interaction purposes as we do now have moved towards the internet later in life but more for purposes of business such as the V.P. of the financial firm who you wanted to communicate with on a business level with however, you would probably hesitate to try and find out his IM screen name in concern that he does not use this application. Which all relates to age and at what times different generations have come into the online world.
Thanks for getting me thinking, great post!
Samantha, I thought you did a good job with your examples for O'Sullivan's Impression Management Model and Media Richness Theory. I know I have often had the same issue come up where a lot of the time the important issue isn’t about the locus or if the news is positive or negative. Often times it is dependent on who I am talking to. Sometimes if it is a boss who would be busy, I am almost scared to interrupt them, especially if I am not sure if the news is important enough to interrupt them with or to warrant a phone call. I feel that the O’Sullivan Model should include other locuses including one that focuses on both the other person and the self. Also, all communication is not necessarily positive or negative. I definitely agree that your first communication followed Media Richness Theory rather than the O’Sullivan Model.
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