A Networked Self

Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites

Zizi Papacharissi, Zizi Papacharissi

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781135966157
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Virtual Reality
• Index: Computer Science

A Networked Self examines self presentation and social connection in the digital age. This collection brings together new work on online social networks by leading scholars from a variety of disciplines. The focus of the volume rests on the construction of the self, and what happens to self-identity when it is presented through networks of social connections in new media environments. The volume is structured around the core themes of identity, community, and culture – the central themes of social network sites. Contributors address theory, research, and practical implications of many aspects of online social networks including self-presentation, behavioral norms, patterns and routines, social impact, privacy, class/gender/race divides, taste cultures online, uses of social networking sites within organizations, activism, civic engagement and political impact.

Part I
Context Communication Theory and Social Network Sites

Chapter 1
Interaction of Interpersonal, Peer, and Media Influence Sources Online

A Research Agenda for Technology Convergence

Joseph B. Walther, Caleb T. Carr, Scott Seung W. Choi, David C. DeAndrea, Jinsuk Kim, Stephanie Tom Tong, and Brandon Van Der Heide

Developments in communication technologies are raising new questions and resurrecting old questions about the interplay of interpersonal, mass, and peer communication. Questions about the interplay of mass media and interpersonal processes are not altogether new. Yet new communication technologies demand a revised view of mass and interpersonal processes. New technologies blur the boundaries between interpersonal and mass communication events and/or the roles that communicators take on using new systems. Arguments have been made that the “convergence” of old and new media demands new and unified perspectives on traditionally segregated processes.

Some of the questions about the convergence of communication sources deserve reconsideration in light of recent technological developments, many of which were unforeseen when previous pronouncements were articulated, that change relationships of mass and interpersonal sources. More specifically, some new communication technologies are changing the manner of reception by which individuals acquire information from institutional, interpersonal, and peer information sources. Technology changes the temporal and contiguous presentations of these sources, and may in fact change the information processing and social influence dynamics among these sources; that is, the sequence with which sources are sampled or the simultaneousness with which they appear may have potent effects on the information processing filters and biases.

“Media convergence” is a term that has been used to connote several phenomena that are brought about by advancements in telecommunication technology that may change some aspect of the communication process. Sometimes the term refers to the blending of previously individuated mass media: One can watch movies on one’s computer, for example. We wish to discuss another kind of convergence: The potential for simultaneous communication via computers of both conceptually mass and interpersonal channels. For example, one can examine the NYTimes.com while chatting about its content with a friend via Instant Messenger; one can draw political news from a blogger, and post an individual reaction on that blog as a comment. Moreover, in addition to mass and interpersonal sources, new communication technology has made incredibly salient another information source, virtual communities and other forms of peer-generated information, which is accessible at a previously impossible level. This addition may further affect the balance of sources of social influence in several settings.

How these information streams influence individuals, of course, is not a magic bullet. We believe that in many cases a deeper understanding of the use and influence of these sources may be derived through a renewed focus on the interpersonal goals that may drive users’ information-seeking and processing. How these new juxtapositions of institutional, peer, and interpersonal sources may change information-processing patterns, and effects of information consumption will have much to do with the interplay of motives that drive particular interactions.

Technology has also generated new forms of communication, in social networking sites and other systems, which bridge the structural and functional characteristics of mass/interpersonal/peer communication. Such technologies invite research that will advance understanding of how individuals conceptualize communication, instantiate communication strategies, and interpret new mediated message forms and content.

The purposes of the present work are several. First, we revisit approaches to the division and interaction of mass and interpersonal communication processes, to see what questions and assertions have been raised that may continue to guide understanding of these processes as they unfold via new technologies. Second, we will attempt to articulate an expanded perspective on the interplay of institutional, peer, and interpersonal sources through contemporary communication technologies, and to articulate research agendas that can help in understanding of the information-processing patterns that such convergent forms make likely. Third, we identify new forms and functions of mediated communication that challenge previous classifications, in order to invoke principles that may focus research to help explain these new phenomena.

Perspectives on Mass/Interpersonal Divisions and Mergers

Traditionally, mass communication processes have been conceptualized as one-way message transmissions from one source to a large, relatively undifferentiated and anonymous audience. Interpersonal communication involves smaller numbers of participants who exchange messages designed for, and directed toward, particular others. Interpersonal communication has been considered a two-way message exchange between two or more individuals in which communication strategies are shaped by the instrumental and relational goals of the individuals involved, and knowledge about one another’s idiosyncratic preferences (see for review Berger & Chaffee, 1989; Cappella, 1989).

Several landmark works involve both mass communication and interpersonal processes to render a comprehensive understanding of particular phenomena. The manner in which most people form and change opinions of politics, style, and other cultural issues is well-known to involve mass media messages and interpersonal discussions (e.g., Katz, 1957; Katz & Lazarsfeld, 1955; Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1944). Similarly, the integration of mass and interpersonal processes is necessary in order to understand the diffusion of innovations, a communication process that incorporates both mass and interpersonal communication in its very conceptualization (Reardon & Rogers, 1988).

Despite their organic relationship in some contexts, a review of their conceptual and disciplinary differences shows that the exploration of mass and interpersonal processes often takes place in isolation of one another. This separation helps to make clear how they operate together when they do, as well as to set the stage for consideration of their interactions, mergers, and/or convergences. Several commentators have illuminated the causes and consequences of a disciplinary divide between mass and interpersonal communication research. Wiemann, Hawkins, and Pingree (1988) attributed the division to historical and academic/bureaucratic differences. Reardon and Rogers (1988) argued that the division developed as a result of scholars’ efforts to define their distinctive contributions to social science. Interpersonal scholars followed the tradition of psychology and social psychology from the 1920s–1930s. Key sources such as Heider’s (1958) Psychology of Interpersonal Relations and the approaches employed by psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists such as Argyle, Goffman, and Bateson, respectively, helped to solidify the relevance of social scientific research on face-to-face interaction and relationships (Reardon & Rogers, 1988), leading to the sub-area of interpersonal communication. Mass media research evolved primarily from sociology and political science (Reardon & Rogers, 1988). Mass media research examined how mediated messages affect large audiences. These alternative sub-areas allowed scholars to focus, define, and justify their academic endeavors.

Despite its historical utility, this division has been lamented for a variety of reasons. The most prevalent concern is a lack of synthesis between mass and interpersonal communication in terms of the theories and research methods that have developed under alternative foci, to the extent that scholars with functionally similar interests may not be aware of the scientific work being performed outside of their area of specialization (Berger & Chaffee, 1988; Pingree, Wiemann, & Hawkins, 1988; Reardon & Rogers, 1988). Cross-disciplinary integration can expand understanding and contribute to more comprehensive approaches to measurement, critics argue, as well as surface for greater scrutiny underlying assumptions inherent in individual specializations (Pingree et al., 1988). Berger and Chaffee (1988) argued that theorizing with a common purpose is the way to unify the field as a whole. Subfields pursuing similar issues without the knowledge of one another can lead to greater division and weakened theoretical results, whereas shared purposes, language, and research areas can provide frameworks for the creation of new theories that examine processes of communication as a whole.

In addition to these general arguments for a merger of mass and interpersonal research approaches, advocates have argued that new communication technologies have the potential to merge the very processes conventionally considered as pertaining to mass communication or interpersonal communication, and that the merger of processes demands the merger of approaches in order to understand such phenomena. For example, Reardon and Rogers (1988) suggested that new interactive media did not neatly fit into preexisting areas of study. They claimed that a new epistemological approach to communication research may be needed. Several observers suggested that new technologies defy easy categorization as either interpersonal or mass media channels because of their interactive nature (Cathcart & Gumpert, 1986; Newhagen & Rafaeli, 1996; O’Sullivan, 1999, 2005; Pingree et al., 1988; Reardon & Rogers, 1988). Thus, commentators hold out hope that “this technological change may facilitate a long-needed paradigm shift in communication science” (Reardon & Rogers, 1988, p. 297) since analytic approaches from mass or interpersonal communication traditions may be insufficient to grasp the effects of new technologies in communication dynamics.

Cathcart and Gumpert’s (1986) initial exploration into the mass/personal merger led them to speculate about a “new typology” they termed “mediated interpersonal communication” which they defined as “any person-to-person interaction where a medium has been interposed to transcend the limitations of time and space” (p. 30). They argued that new analytics are needed for such forms since the interposition of media changes the quality and quantity of information exchanged, influences personal behaviors and attitudes, and shapes an individual’s self image. Some 20 years later, without a new typology per se, the study of computer-mediated communication (CMC) has done much to flesh out a number of issues that Cathcart and Gumpert identified (see, for review, Walther, 2006).

Likewise, O’Sullivan (1999, p. 580) argued that “The functional convergence of mass and interpersonal channels, perhaps best represented by the Internet, is both a challenge and an opportunity for scholars to pursue convergence of the two areas of study.” More recently, O’Sullivan (2005) suggested that there are and have been unique blends of “masspersonal” communication, not only in Internet forms but through unconventional appropriations of conventional media, when individuals use traditional mass communication channels for interpersonal communication, traditional interpersonal communication channels for mass communication, and new communication channels to generate mass communication and interpersonal communication simultaneously. One recalls the example of proposing marriage by sending the request over the Jumbotron at a major sporting event, in front of screaming throngs of onlookers.

Despite the call for synthesis, the publication of synthetic interpersonal/ mass approaches to communication and new technology has not accelerated. O’Sullivan’s (1999) analysis of articles in Human Communication Research since its creation in 1974 to 1999 showed that less than 3% of articles offered “syn-thesis scholarship,” and the frequency of such synthesis did not increase after the Winter 1988 issue calling for rapprochement of mass and interpersonal communication research. Results of similar analyses for other major communication journals such as Communication Monographs, the Journal of Communication, and Communication Research over the same time period showed that a small and sporadic amount of synthesis research has continued after several endorse-ments (O’Sullivan, 1999). Much has chan...