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Social Media Research
Communication technology and theory: Research into the interpersonal and social interface

Summary: According to linguistics and pragmatics (J殲gen Habermas especially), linguistically-mediated interaction is a special form of human communication and interaction. According to the views of his pragmatics of speech, this kind of communication (call it talk if you will) embeds social and cultural normative claims in everyay and interpersonal exchanges. Society is reproduced in daily acts, through use of truth claims stated linguistically and subject to validation or clarification by any one of the interaction partners. What then might social media and other tools of mediated communication do to this exchange? Are the numerous examples of deception, manipulation, insincerity and dishonesty that run rampant online an indication that the medium itself serves our communication needs only poorly? As a means of communication, do our talk technologies rob personal relationships of (some of their) richness, power, and depth? There would be many issues to research here.

Effectiveness and the risk/success ratio of communicating through technology

The degree to which we are successful in communicating through a technology informs how we use it, with whom, and for what purpose. When we encounter risks in communication, we tend to limit our exposure, in terms of what we say, to whom, and how.

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