My roommate this year recently decided upon taking a semester leave of absence to work through some personal/family issues. Provided the circumstances, she made her decision to leave in a hurry and didn’t have much time to talk things through with me face-to-face. Therefore, a few days after she left, I received a Facebook message from her fully explaining her reasons for taking a semester off and apologizing for leaving me so unexpectedly.
My roommate’s media selection is fully supported by O’Sullivan’s Impression Management Model. The goal of her Facebook message was to elucidate some aspects of her life that could’ve been interpreted as potentially humiliating. She was making a confession, so she decided upon a leaner, asynchronous, more mediated channel. Since the valence of the situation was negative, through the media selection of a Facebook message, she was able to create an emotional buffer protecting herself much more than if she had called me or confronted me face-to-face before she left. Additionally, since the locus of the situation was of self, her media choice of a Facebook message provided maximum control so that she could present this possibly disheartening news about her life in a regulated manner.
After receiving her Facebook message, I was left with the dilemma of deciding upon which media to respond through. After much thought, I decided upon calling her to tell her how much respect I have for her and how much I support her decision. I chose this richer media because I wanted to give my roommate the opportunity to actually hear my approval, compliments and encouragement. Once again, my selection of media was supported by O’Sullivan’s model. Essentially, since the valence of this episode was positive and the locus was of other, my phone call was full of “praise” for my roommate. Furthermore, I believe that she benefited from hearing my praise through a richer media more than she would have if I had decided to respond to her with a Facebook message. Since our phone call involved more cues than a Facebook message, not only was the credibility of my respect for her increased, but she had extended access to my positive response. My choice of media doesn’t support the Media Richness Theory. Even though my motive for calling her was unambiguous and my message for her wasn’t equivocal, I still decided upon a richer media for her benefit.
comments
http://comm245blue.blogspot.com/2007/09/3-media-selection_6928.html
http://comm245blue.blogspot.com/2007/09/3-my-media-selection.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I find it interesting that, in this case, we have a reply that occurs through a different medium than the initial communication took place in. Often, I find that if you communicate with someone through a particular medium, they will tend to respond to you through that same medium. This may just be a convention that people have adopted, or it could be more convenient (since presumably the receiver is accessing the medium in question at the moment that they get the message). I alluded to this possibility in my blog post for this week.
In your case, it seems like the severity of the message far outweighed the convenience of replying on facebook directly. So in this sense, it is a very good example of the Impression Management Model.
But the asynchronicity of facebook messages can reduce the urge to respond using the same medium. If your friend were to have told you over IM, perhaps you may have been inclined to express your approval over IM rather than phone.
I think your response actually does support Media Richness Theory because the theory is based on chosing the most effective way to communicate your message. By calling your roomate on the phone, you are able to show her you care about her and support her decision. I think the message may have been somewhat equivocal in the sense that your roomate may not necessarilly have known what to expect your response would be, or that it would be so positive. So, I do believe Media Richness Theory is applicable, but you are clearly correct as well that the situation is almost perfectly explained by O'Sullivan's model.
I also find it interesting that your roomate chose to use an asynchronous form of communication, but you had time to plan an initial response also, even though you chose to communicate via a synchronous phone call. It sounds like you handled a difficult situation very well.
Post a Comment