Presentation at Theorizing the Web conference in College Park, MD on April 9, 2011.

1. Theorizing the Future of Computer-Mediated Communication: The Changing Role of Self-Presentation, Audience, and Interaction Jessica Vitak | @jvitak Michigan State University Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

2. Let’s take a walk through CMC’s past… 1. Computer-mediated communication is not a new phenomenon. 2. Theories of CMC have evolved with the technology. 3. BUT this evolution cannot keep pace with technological developments. 2 Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

3. CMC is as old as the Internet 3 Usenet (1979) Best-known and widely researched online discussion forum. Newsgroups for every topic imaginable. See Baym (1998) & Donath (1999) for examples of research using Usenet. Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

4. CMC is as old as the Internet 4 The WELL (1985) Became widely known through Howard Rheingold’s book, “The Virtual Community” Strong geographic component. Highlighted the modality-switching capabilities of the Internet. Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

5. CMC is as old as the Internet 5 AOL connected millions of people to the Internet and served as both an ISP and as a homebase for establishing an online identity. AOL Chat Rooms enabled large-group pseuodonymous, synchronous interactions. AIM (1996) enabled synchronous one-to-one interactions. Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

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7. CMC is as old as the Internet 7 Online dating sites serve a very specific purpose: finding someone to date (casually or seriously) Modality switching. Static profiles  asynchronous communication  synchronouscommunication  face-to-face meetings. See Ellison, Gibbs & Heino’s (2006) research for more. Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

8. CMC is as old as the Internet 8 Boyd and Ellison (2007) define SNSs as “web-based services that allow individuals to: (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system; (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.” Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

9. Let’s take a walk through CMC’s past… 1. Computer-mediated communication is not a new phenomenon. 2. Theories of CMC have evolved with the technology. 3. BUT this evolution cannot keep pace with technological developments. 9 Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

10. Theories of CMC 10 Cues-filtered-out approach (Culnan & Markus, 1987) Dominant in 1980s and into the 1990s CMC is impersonal; less social/personal; leaner than in-person interactions "CMC, because of its lack of audio or video cues, will be perceived as impersonal and lacking in normative reinforcement, so there will be less socioemotional content exchanged" (Rice & Love, 1987). < Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

11. Theories of CMC 11 Social Information Processing (SIP) Theory (Walther, 1992) Direct response to cues filtered out approach. Relationships can and do form online, albeit at a slower rate than in face-to-face environments. = Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

12. Theories of CMC 12 Hyperpersonal Model (Walther, 1996) Sometimes, the unique affordances of CMC allow individuals to develop develop relationships that are “more socially desirable than we tend to experience in parallel FtFinteraction” (p. 17). Role of sender, receiver, channel, and feedback. > Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

13. Theories of CMC 13 Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE; Reicher, Spears, & Postmes, 1995 ) In deindividuated/depersonalized settings, individual identity is submerged into the group identity. We identify with the “in group” and disassociate with the “outgroup.” ✔ Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

14. Let’s take a walk through CMC’s past… 1. Computer-mediated communication is not a new phenomenon. 2. Theories of CMC have evolved with the technology. 3. BUT this evolution cannot keep pace with technological developments. 14 Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

15. Evolution of CMC 15 CMC’s early features: Asynchronous Examples: Email, discussion forums Benefits: Allows user to carefully compose and edit messages prior to sending. Drawbacks: limited/no real-time interactions  slowed down processes (2) Reduced-cues environment Examples: any text-only online interaction Benefits: selective self-presentation, identity play Drawbacks: No visual cues misinterpretations of messages, deception Theories of CMC are based off of these properties. Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

16. Evolution of CMC 16 CMC in 2011 is: (1) Highly interactive (2) Highly visual (3) Synchronous, near synchronous, and asynchronous communication (4) Interactions are with FRIENDS, not strangers Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

17. The Problem 17 CMC has changed… BUT the theories that attempt to predict, explain, and control it have not. Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

18. Enter my research… 18 https://www.msu.edu/~nellison/TOIL

19. Enter my research… 19 What do we study? The relationship between Facebook use and social capital: We have found that various measures of Facebook use, including FBI (Ellison et al., 2007), actual friends on the site (Ellison et al., in press), connection strategies (Ellison et al., in press), and engagement in reciprocal communication (Vitak et al., 2011) predict perceptions of social capital. But this only tells part of the story. Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

20. Enter my research… 20 Problems with this research: Atheoretical? Does not account for two inter-related and critical components of SNS use: -- Audience -- Self-Presentation (a la disclosures) Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

21. What’s audience got to do with it? 21 danahboyd (2008) identified three dynamics that differentiate networked publics from traditional publics: invisible audiences context collapse blurring of public and private Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

22. Selective Self-Presentation via CMC 22 Goffman’s (1959) dramaturgical approach: … a performer tends to conceal or underplay those activities, facts, and motives which are incompatible with an idealized version of himself… a performer often engenders in his audience the belief that he is related to them in a more ideal way than is always the case (p. 48). Hyperpersonal Model (Walther, 1996): senders engage in selective self-presentations // receivers idealize the sender // behavioral confirmation through feedback So how do we selectively self-present on SNSs? Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

24. Who are they?

25. Who is highlighted?Status updates

26. 24 Communication Channels on SNSs Public: Status Updates, Comments, Likes, Posting Photos, Sharing Links Private: Messages, Chat, Filtering Posts with privacy settings Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

27. Blurring of Public and Private 25 Marwick and boyd (2011): “We may understand that the Twitter or Facebook audience is potentially limitless, but we often act as if it were bounded.” But Facebook is just my friends! Technical features enable sharing of “private” information far beyond your articulated network. Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

28. Blurring of Public and Private 26

29. Blurring of Public and Private 27 Canadian woman on medical leave dropped from insurance for not looking depressed in Facebook photos (story)

30. Blurring of Public and Private 28 Eagles employee fired over status update (story)

31. But what does it all mean? 29

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35. 33 Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

38. Can we adapt existing social science theories explaining offline interaction?Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

41. People seek to maximize rewards while minimizing costs.Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

43. Main concepts: cost, benefit, outcome, comparison level, satisfaction, and dependenceJessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

45. establishment of plans and strategies for interacting with others

46. development and maintenance of self-identityJessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011

47. 39 Thanks! Twitter: Email: @jvitakvitakjes@msu.edu Website: http://vitak.wordpress.com Jessica Vitak | Theorizing the Web | April 9, 2011