Hi again,
For Assignment #3 we were given 2 choices on what we could write and both being extremely interested I had a hard time chosing, however, I chose to write about options #2: Identify and describe two different instances of media selection. We have been told to discuss why we (or the person observed) chose the given media, and relate the occurence to O'Sullivan's model either as support for or against it.
The first instance where I can note media selection was when my roommate/one of my best friends chose to message me about something via Facebook. That particular day or couple of days I had definately not myself; in fact one would say I was in a pretty bad mood. It was probably the typical attitude that evelopes Cornell studens as Ithaca weather becomes gloomy. The point is being a good friend she asked me multiple times if I was ok and I just said I was fine. Yes, I lied, but I didn't want to be a downer on everyone else. After this she didn't really pay much attention to the fact that I was down and I was somewhat suprised. However, the next morning I check my Facebook and I had a message from her. The basic jist of the message was that she knew something was wrong and felt bad to keep asking me but she hated seeing me sad and wanted to let me know she was here to talk to and to tell her what was up. At first this made me smile because I had thought she didn't care. After my initialo reaction I ended up wondering, why did she facebook me! Don't people only do that with people they aren't very close to? I was somewhat puzzled that she didn't just call me or talk to me in person. I feel that this does apply to O'Sullivan's Media Richness theory as my roomate chose an unambiguous method to confront me thus not supporting the media richness theory which would posit that she would do so in an ambiguous manor. The Media Richness Theory says that you would choose a rich media for more equivical tasks, yet my roommate chose a lean media.
The second instance where I noticed a particularly strang instance of media selection was through instant messaging. In short, after various attempts to meet up with one of my friends (i.e. calling and iming) with no response, I gave up contacting her feeling as though I was annoying her. However, 2 days later I received a long IM from her telling me how sorry she was and that she had been extremely busy with school and unexpected family problems. She stressed how she felt like such a bad friend and was so sorry. Of course I accepted her apology and told her I completely understood. Looking at this instance in terms of O'Sullivan's Media Richness Model one would say that my friend would contact me in a more face to face manner. Similar to my roommate the way in which my friend contacted me (via IM) directly goes against the Media Richness Theorys' position that richer media should go with more equivical matter.
In summary, while both these instances seem to go against O'Sullivan's Theory, only the first one seems a little odd. The instant messaging did not seem to me to be an odd way of apologizing a) because I frequently converse with this friend more through IM then on the phone and b) I know that her phone was actually broken (this was the only way she could reach me).
Best!
Whitney
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Your post was interesting to read because it made me think of how often I now use the leaner media when really I should be using a richer medium. I think that a lot of the reason for these choices is that we have become accustomed to using Facebook and IMs and it has become natural to contact even close friends in this manner. However, your friend that contacted you via instant message does in some ways support O’Sullivan’s model. Since she was apologizing for acting as a bad friend and the locus was herself and the valence was negative, it makes a lot of sense that she would choose the leaner medium, allowing her to have more control over the situation.
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