3 Media Selection

I had two recent experiences where my selection of media influenced the content and style of the message contained within each medium.

First, I selected the telephone as a medium to contact my grandparents, as it was my grandfather’s birthday. I felt that the phone was the most convenient and personable medium I could have used for that situation, in which a warm “Happy Birthday” was in order. We enjoy hearing each other’s voice, even though we were hours away from each other. In addition, I know my grandparents very well and am accustomed to calling them. According to the Impression Management Model (O'sullivan), I probably chose an appropriate medium for “Praise” (“Positive” Valence and “Other” Focus). Although the IMM makes a good fit for describing my decisions in this case, it leaves out several other factors that influenced my selection of the phone medium. One major factor is selecting the appropriate medium for each group of people. While the IMM says I will choose a “richer” medium for Praise, it does not specify which “rich” medium will be best suited. Since I am quite savvy with computers and video production, I could have sent “The Birthday Boy” a video card or had a video chat on Skype with him. Instead, I believe I chose the phone medium because of the person involved, my grandfather, instead of making such a decision based on richness of the medium. Since my grandfather does not know how to use a computer, those other options would have been less convenient for him. The Media Richness Theory does not apply very well to this situation: equivocation or the lack of it was not a factor in my choice of the phone medium.

Second, I selected the email medium to send a thank-you letter and request more information from someone who works at a company where I am interested in working. I had just met him in person at an information session the day before. While he had given me his business card, containing his business mailing address, telephone number, and email address, I felt it was not as appropriate to call or “snail mail” him just yet, since we had just met and did not know each other too well. My decision to use email might also fit in with the Media Richness Theory, which would say that email is more fitted for more routine communication. I don’t think the positive and negative valence aspects of O’sullivan’s Impression Management Theory relate too closely to my decision to use a mediated environment: convenience and how well I knew the person were larger factors. I also used email because of its appropriateness for business communication.