The beginning of every school year is filled with people adding and dropping classes, buying textbooks and unpacking their rooms. But, in addition to these mundane activities, every school year also begins with trying to catch up with all your friends that you haven’t seen or talked to all summer. So how do students in college make plans to meet up with their old friends? Facebook of course! It is easy, fast and convenient. Just a few days ago I wrote on my friend, “Lola’s”, wall about lunch plans. So why did I use facebook instead of just calling my old pal? Is it because I don’t know her that well, do I not feel that comfortable with her, or are we more acquaintances than friends? No. Lola and I are actually close friends. The reason I decided to use facebook was because it was quicker and much more efficient than telephone. I know that Lola and I are usually busy with meetings and other activities so facebook, being a lean media, would give both of us more control over when and how we respond. With facebook, we can both look over our schedules and respond accordingly; as oppose to a long, confusing telephone call which would go something like this:
“Wednesday? O no I can’t I have class all day. Um ok Thursday? Nope meeting. O hmm Ok how about I just send you what days I’m free on facebook and then let me know what works. Ok sounds good. Bye.”
As you can see facebook is much more efficient for simple, non-equivocal tasks like a lunch date. This situation falls in line with the media richness theory, where one try’s to match the type of media with the social task. It states that for less equivocal tasks (lunch date) lean media are preferable because of efficiency. O’Sullivan’s model does not come into play here because impression management is not the goal. I am already friends with Lola and I am not trying to engage in self-presentational tactics. Valence and locus are also not important in this situation. It is simply about efficiency.
A related situation in which I chose a face-to-face media as oppose to facebook was when I decided to not write the recent “dramas” in my life on Lola’s wall but waited till our face-to-face lunch date. I waited to till our FtF to talk about recent news because it is much easier and efficient to talk to someone about your life instead of typing it all out on facebook. Further, in a lean media I would not be able to see Lola’s immediate reaction and feedback. Hence, facebook is less efficient in this situation. The media richness theory claims that for equivocal tasks, rich media are preferred because of efficiency, multiplicity of cues and availability of feedback.
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