This past weekend, I used a variety of mediated channels to communicate with my girlfriend on her birthday (I was unable to go home to see her). In terms of impression management and communications channels to maintain relationships and a self presentation, I will use two mediated forms of communication and compare these selections I made to the messages I conveyed.
First, I decided use the telephone as a form of communicating a more intimate “happy birthday” message. Although it may not be as ‘rich’ as face-to-face, the telephone was rich enough to convey my intimacy. In other words, the telephone has “symbolic meaning” and it conveys a message that goes beyond just the verbal message. As mentioned before, the telephone is more intimate. In terms of the Locus, Valence and Self-Presentational Conditions Table, I chose this channel to exemplify “Praise” (which falls under a “positive” valence and the “other” locus).
On the other hand, later that day I chose to write her an e-mail to further exemplify my “Praise” on her birthday. However, I chose this channel because of my inability to articulate myself well during most synchronous conversations. O’Sullivan deduces three factors when he discusses channel preferences: interactional control, symbolism, and social skill. According to O’Sullivan, my selection of an asynchronous, leaner channel is due to the social skill factor. Using an e-mail to go into detail about plans for the next month, discussing our relationship further, and writing about her birthday gave me the “ability to manage interactions competently.” In fact, my use of e-mail agrees with O’Sullivan’s research asserting that “…in some circumstances, individuals seek to increase equivocality by selecting leaner channels.” And it disagrees with the Media Richness Theory which suggests just the opposite (that selecting richer channels are used more often to reduce equivocality).
In conclusion, it may be possible that my first choice, the telephone, could have supported the Media Richness Theory in that I aimed to eliminate equivocality by engaging in a synchronous conversation. The synchronicity allowed for verbal cues, language variety, and an available amount of feedback –what the Media Richness Theory entails. However, following up with an e-mail and allowing myself time to better articulate my meaning and sincerity with this particular birthday wish supported the Impression Management Model because I chose to reduce ambiguity by using a less rich form of media. From my own experience, I think a person’s personality has a large bearing on what type of channel they select to convey a particular message. (i.e. Are they introverted or extroverted? )
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Interestingly enough, we have yet to come across a theory that commented about utilizing multiple media to expand one's expressive ability. The phone call you made would be the more personalized, emotive, and rich "channel" to use. When the valence was positive, as it was, O'Sullivan's theory predicts that one would use a richer channel; if you cannot talk face-to-face, the telephone is the next richest channel (save for video conferencing, but that's a bit more consuming). Following up the richer channel with an email, where you could better concentrate your cognitive resources, allowed you to send an asynchronous message serving to bolster and extrapolate upon the positive notes of the telephone conversation. How perfect: reinforcing positive, loving feelings over a leaner, but perhaps more relaxed channel -- filling in the blanks, so to speak.
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