Online Communication and Social Engagement

Abstract

Early studies of online communication examined the predominantly textual nature of online communication (e.g., e-mail, discussion boards, chat rooms) and hypothesized that the reduced number of available message channels would restrict the level of social engagement. In other words, by reducing interpersonal communication to a textual experience, traditional nonverbal cues such as facial expression, eye contact, and gestures are eliminated. As Kiesler, Siegel, and McGuire (1984) stated in an early study of computer-mediated communication, “Once people have electronic access, their states, power, and prestige are communicated neither contextually (the way secretaries and meeting rooms and clothes communicate) nor dynamically (the way gaze, touch, and facial and paralinguistic behavior communicate)” (p. 1125). They questioned whether online communication was inherently depersonalizing, not only because of such reduced cues, but also because it forces communicators to imagine their audience.