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

Summary: The symbolic interactionism of Erving Goffman provided a powerful and illuminating encyclopedia of what "happens" during face to face social encounters. He was particularly insightful in his analysis of the handling requirements of social occasions, most of which he described as various forms of talk. What then does online talk look like? How does it refer to face to face talk? How does it reshape it? What is left outside the frame of talk, and how well does talk function when embodied interaction is impossible?

Communication is iteration. Say again?

Communication is iterative by definition. Each utterance belongs to a string of utterances, structured loosely or not as a series of statements and responses. Technologies not only complicate this chaining of utterances, they may have a more profound impact on the iterability of communication itself. If our interactions are characterized by a tendency to answer a statement with a response, and this is conditioned by our physical presence to one another, what happens when the cost of suddenly disappearing (from a chat, IM, message board, etc.) drops to nothing? Why continue conversation when there's no cost to simply leaving the room? You can imagine what this could do to everyone involved...

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