The Computer Mediated Communication Media Essay

The Computer Mediated Communication Media Essay Computer-mediated communication is defined by Metz as cited in Miller Brunner, 2008 as any communication patterns mediated by a computer. The notion of CMC was first discussed in Licklider and Taylor (1968), which posits men will be able to communicate more effectively through a machine (i.e., a computer) than face to face. After almost two decades of studies, researchers have found it increasingly useful to regard computers, through which communication is mediated, as a mass medium (Morris Ogan, 1996). With changes taking place in various aspects of life today due to proliferation of communication, Miller Brunner (2008) hold that research into CMC has become increasingly prominent. CMC studies in both education and business domains have been concerned about the effects of computer as a medium of mass communication (Morris Ogan, 1996). This is largely due to the following characteristics of CMC that Morris (as cited in Chen, 2009) has identified: ubiquity, transparency, asynchronism, hyper-reality, and interactivity. Contrary to its actual potential, earlier ideas about CMC advocated a lack of capacity to deliver rich social information due to text-based and visually anonymous environment (Yao Flanagin, 2004). CMC had been criticised to have inherently prevented interpersonal communication and encouraged impersonal interactions such as bashings on the Internet (Kiesler, Siegel, McGuire, 1984). Siegel, Dubrovsky, Kiesler, and McGuire (1986) find that computer-mediated groups tend to demonstrate more aggressive behavior such as name-calling and swearings, as compared to groups that use face-to-face interactions. Nevertheless, such a deterministic view was challenged in subsequent studies. For instance, it is claimed the email plays a positive role by deconstructing organisational structures, allowing for greater information exchange among more people, and improving socialisation (Spence, 2002). Besides, CMC users are found to be able to adapt to the virtual environment and develop interpersonal relationships that resemble relationships formed face-to-face (Yao Flanagin, 2004). It is also found that group collaboration in CMC has contributed to group processing outcomes deemed innovative and democratic (Miller Brunner, 2008). 2.2 A shift on the Internet The Internet is evolving into a PeopleWeb, which indicates a shift from a web comprised of pages to one populated by people and their artifacts and interactions (Ramakrishnan Tomkin, 2007). In that regard, social networking sites such as Facebook and Friendster that allow information sharing and sourcing, have become extremely popular in the new media (Lipsman, as cited in Pfeil et al., 2009), and according to Bausch and Han (2006), will continue to attract users in a large number. Users are moving away from a state of anonymity on the Internet (McKenna Bargh, 2000) with the evolvement of computer technologies. For instance, popular Chinese social networking site RenRen is concluded to be an extension of users real life as self-disclosure phenomenon elicited by reality rather than anonymity is found present on the site (Yu Wu, 2010). While web 1.0 is getting replaced by applications in the web 2.0 era such as blogs, wikis, and collaborative projects (Kaplan Haenlein, 2009), content now can be modified by all users in a participatory and collaborative manner rather than on an individual basis (Kaplan Haenlein, 2009; Cheung, Chiu, Lee, 2010). With the rise of the social networking sites, their popularity is gauged not only by the size of the user base, but also the ability to provide users with the most significant amount of interaction (Cheung et al., 2010). It is reported in Bausch and Han (2006) that users of the top ten social networking sites in the U.S. had grown from 46.8 million in 2006 to 68.8 million in the following year. The growth of social media has influenced social interaction among people and contributed to a new meaning of the interaction, where scholars have begun looking into (as cited in Lipsman, Pfeil et al., 2009). The ramification of the new media is, as Grossman (2006) puts it, a community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. The web 2.0 a revolution is as if a new version of some old software (Grossman, 2006). Papacharissi and Rubin (2000) have identified online empowerment of individuals linking to instrumentality, interactivity, activity, and involvement as the causes of influence of the new web. On the other hand, Jacobs et al. (2009) attribute the rapid growth of social media to its ability to allow users to produce and share content. While the active audience theory has been shunned as far as traditional media is concerned, Livingstone (1999) highlights the importance of audience activity in both the design and use of interactive media. In fact, the shift in media user activity has been discussed since as early as 1963, when Klapper (as cited in Chigona et al., 2008) put forth the idea that UG focuses on what people do with mass media, rather than what mass media does to people. Shin (2009) calls the UG approach a paradigm shift from traditional media research, where focus was placed on media effects (e.g., what media does to people). A review of the UG theory can be found after this sub-chapter. 2.3 Uses and gratifications (UG) theory The UG theory, otherwise known as the needs and gratifications theory (Roy, 2009, revolves around why and how people use certain media (Lo Leung, 2009). The term gratifications was coined by psychologist Herta Herzogto in 1944 to illustrate specific dimensions of radio audiences usage satisfaction, following which mass communication theorists had adopted and adapted the concept to study various mass media such as TV and electronic bulletins (Luo, 2002). The UG theory is built upon the basic assumption that audience has their own agenda and is deemed as active and goal-oriented rather than passive consumers of information (McQuail, Blumler, Brown, as cited in Katz, Blumler, Gurevitch, 1974). By assuming the audience to be active and goal-directed, the UG perspective posits that they opt for and consume certain media and content that would satisfy their psychological needs, which explains the motivation of their media use (Katz, Gurevitch, Hass, 1973; Rubin, as cited in Roy, 2009; Katz, Blumler, Gurevitch, as cited in Kim, Sohn, Choi, 2010). Such fulfillment of needs as a source of motivation, is proposed to be affecting user gratification of media use (Sangwan, 2005). The UG theory has been adopted and adapted over the years to study the use of various media ranging from the more conventional mass media to the new media and later to mobile technology (Stafford et al., 2004; Chigona et al., 2008; Roy, 2009; Shin, 2009; Liu et al., 2010). Although some scholars have questioned UGs utility in studying the digital media, Ruggiero (as cited in Quan-Haase, 2012) posits the need to seriously include the UG approach in any attempt to speculate on the future direction of mass communication theory. Besides, it is contended that whenever a new technology makes its way into the arena of mass communication, users underlying motivations and decisions to use the new communication tool could be explained by applying the UG paradigm (Elliott Rosenberg, Liu, Cheung Lee, 2010). However, in order to effectively study and measure the new media by using the UG scales intended for traditional media research, Lin (as cited in Shin, 2009) holds that a revision to the scales will be required. Consistent with Lins idea is Angleman (as cited in Shin, 2009), who believes existing theories require amendments in order to fit new media studies. Application of the UG theory in various new media studies has been reviewed and an overview of those studies with their respective motivations is presented in Table 1. Table 2.1: Overview of Prior Studies on New Media UG Author and year Research area Motivations identified James, Wotring, Forrest (1995) Electronic bulletin board (i.e., forums) Transmission of information and education, socialising, medium appeal, computer or other business, entertainment Korgaonkar Wolin (1999) Internet Social escapism, transaction, privacy, information, interaction, socialization, economic motivations Papacharissi (2002) Personal home pages Passing time, entertainment, information, self-expression, professional advancement, communication with friends and family Stafford et al. (2004) Internet Process: resources, search engines, searching, surfing, technology, web sites Content: education, information, knowledge, learning, research Social: chatting, friends, interactions, people Ko, Cho, Roberts (2005) Internet Information, convenience, entertainment, social-interaction Diddi LaRose (2006) Internet news Surveillance, escapism, pass time, entertainment, habit Cheung Lee (2009) Virtual comminity Purposive value, self-discovery, entertainment value, social enhancement, maintaining interpersonal interconnectivity Haridakis Hanson (2009) YouTube Convenient entertainment, convenient information seeking, co-viewing, social interaction Mendes-Filho Tan (2009) User-generated content Content: information consistency, source credibility, argument quality, information framing Process: medium; entertainment Social: recommendation consistency, recommendation rating Liu, Cheung Lee (2010) Twitter Content: disconfirmation of self-documentation, disconfirmation of information sharing Process: disconfirmation of entertainment, disconfirmation of passing time, disconfirmation of self-expression Social: disconfirmation of social interaction Technology: disconfirmation of medium appeal, disconfirmation of convenience 2.4 Media user gratifications Katz et al. (1974) suggest research on gratifications has revolved around media-related needs that serve to satisfy media consumers at least in part who are deemed active and goal-oriented. Despite having a problem with ambiguity as far as definition is concerned, Weiss (1976) asserts that related key terms like uses, needs, satisfactions, gratifications, and motives are being used interchangeably across different papers and within single papers. Stafford et al. (2004) define gratifications as some aspects of user-reported satisfaction. It has been found that satisfaction of user motivations is positively correlated with future internet usage (Papacharissi Rubin, 2000). Before resorting to a certain behavior of media use, past experiences of individuals and whether or not their motivations can be satisfied by certain behaviors will be evaluated (McLeod Becker, as cited in Johnson Yang, 2008). Sangwan (2005) puts forth the idea that gratification can be used as a proxy measure to evaluate the success or failure of a virtual community, which is similar to that used in information systems. He proposes that gratification of media users will be affected by fulfillment of media needs that acts as a motivator. In this research, a total of 22 questions on social media use are employed as the instrument to evaluate and explain users motivations. By taking up the proposal by Sangwan (2005), the research outcome will tell if users motivations have an effect on the gratifications or satisfaction of media users. Detailed information on the research instrument can be referred to in Chapter 3. 2.5 Categorisations of needs and gratifications The UG theory proposes five categories of needs, namely cognitive, affective, personal integrative, social integrative and tension release needs (Katz et al., 1973). Over the years, researchers appropriating the UG theory to study various media have discovered a plethora of different needs. While some of these needs are rather consistent with one of the earliest classifications of needs by Katz et al. (1973), others are not. In a study that examines the relations between web usage and satisfaction, Luo (2002) employs three constructs drawn from previous traditional media UG research, namely informativeness, entertainment, and irritation, in order to assess how each of them affects user attitude towards the web. Research results have confirmed the said constructs were what determine users attitude towards the web. Also employs similar constructs include such researchers as Eighmey (1997), Eighmey and McCord (1998), as well as Kargaonkar and Wolin (1999). Livaditi, Vassilopoulou, Lougos, and Chorianopoulos (2003), in their interactive TV applications UG study, catogorise media needs into the two basic constructs of ritualised and instrumental. Other researchers who have adopted such a classification of needs are Metzger and Flanagin, as well as Rubin (as cited in Ran, 2008), who have found that gratifications, as motivations, do lead to both ritualised and instrumental use of media. In Sangwan (2005), several types of needs have been identified to explain the motivations behind the use of virtual community platforms, such as forums: functional, emotive, and contextual needs. However, it is posited that although the research sample has been assumed to be active participants of virtual communities, there are also passive participants whose latent needs have yet to be identified (Sangwan, 2005). Cutler and Danowski, as well as Stafford and Stafford (as cited in Chigona et al., 2008) divide motivations into the categories of process and content. Later, an additional category known as social motivations has been identified and included (Stafford Stafford, as cited in Chigona et al., 2008). Stafford et al. (2004) describe this additional social dimension as unique to Internet use. Although found to be the weakest variable among others, social motivations serves as a vital construct in the Internet-specific UG research (Stafford et al., 2004). Chigona et al. (2008), who appropriate the motivation categories verified in Stafford et al. (2004) to study mobile Internet UG, have confirmed the presence of all three constructs. Peters, Amato, and Hollenbeck (2007), as well as Mendes-Filho and Tan (2009) are among other researchers who have adopted the three constructs in their respectively studies of wireless advertising and user-generated content. Also adopting the instruments is Shin (2009), who, on top of the three motivation types, has added embedded gratifications to study wireless Internet use. Besides, Liu et al. (2010) also employ the three motivations types on top of an additional technology gratification to study Twitter use. 2.6 Process, content, and social motivations This study bases its main framework on one developed by Stafford and Stafford (as cited in Chigona et al., 2008), and later verified by Stafford et al. (2004): the three motivation types of process, content, and social. The rationale behind this choice has been explained in Chapter 1 under Statement of problem (p.zz). What is defined by each of the process, content, and social motivations, is illustrated in the next few paragraphs. Content gratifications from the UG theory are characterised by their relation to information content, such as product or store information (Stafford Stafford, as cited in Stafford et al., 2004) and place concern on messages carried by the medium (Stafford et al., 2004). Such motivations are stemmed from the use of mediated messages for the receivers intrinsic value (Cutler Danowski, as cited in Chigona et al., 2008). Content motivations take consideration into to the messages that a medium carries (Stafford et al., 2004; Stafford, 2009), which may be informative or entertaining (Stafford, 2009). Roy (2009) asserts that content is normally skewed towards entertainment and dispersion in UG studies of non-Internet media, as compared to informativeness in those of Internet. Nevertheless, certain Internet users may be motivated by such usage process as random browsing and site navigation (Hoffman and Danowski, as cited in Stafford et al., 2004). Process motivations are driven by the actual use of the medium per se (Cutler Danowski, as cited in Chigona et al., 2008; Stafford et al., 2004; Stafford, 2009), such as enjoyment of the process of using the Internet (Hoffman Novak, as cited in Stafford et al., 2004; Stafford, 2009). On the other hand, social motivations include such aspects as chatting, friendship, interactions, and people (Chigona et al., 2008). 2.7 Social dimension and the rising impact Social contacts and interactions have shifted from offline to online realms (Boyd, as cited in Smeele, 2010) and this social dimension defines what users understand about themselves and their relation to the communities (Dyson; McMillan Chavis, as cited in Jacobs et al., 2009). Stafford et al. (2004) posit the importance of looking into the potential UG of the Internet as a social environment, as researchers may be expected to discover emergent social gratifications for Internet use. Research by Jacobs et al. (2009) shows a majority of the students utilise social media in a manner that resembles the social friends and family setting. Besides, Ellison, Steinfield, ande Lampe (as cited in Ross, Orr, Sisic, Arseneault, Simmering, Orr, 2009) also assert that maintenance of pre-existing social relationships has been made possible and may be stronger through online platforms. Users now turn to the Internet more frequently to socialise with people they know and expand their circle of friends (Jones, as cited in Correa, Hinsley Zà ºÃƒ ±iga, 2010). Active participation on sites like Facebook, communication via texting and chat programmes, as well as creation of blogs have become a way of life for the new generation according to Jacobs et al. (2009). Correa et al. (2010) are of the opinion that individuals who choose not to engage online may be limiting their ability to advance socially as it is an increasingly user-generated environment. 2.8 The need to quantify social dimension Stafford et al. (2004) concede that there is limited evidence in support of the distinct social aspect to Internet use. Following the identification of social motivations in Stafford and Stafford (as cited in Chigona et al., 2008), researchers are trying to validate this emerging motivation type, which eventually has been found present in studies by such researchers as Chigona et al. (2008), Haridakis and Hanson (2009), as well as Norway Brandtzà ¦g and Heim (as cited in Kim et al., 2010). Miller and Brunner (2008) hold that studies that focus specifically on the social aspect of online communicators and its theoretical foundations are lacking. For instance, although the social dimension is found present in a mobile Internet UG study by Chigona et al. (2008), the researchers merely confirm its existence without providing much elaboration into how it fares in contrast to content and process motivations the latter of which according to Aoki Downe; Leung Wei; Rubin; Stafford Gillenson; Stafford et al. (as cited in Chigona et al., 2008), are the most pronounced motivation types found on traditional Internet use. Besides, several social media studies also show that the social dimension does not live up to the medias supposedly social nature (e.g., Liu et al., 2010; Smeele, 2010; Xu, Ryan, Prybutok, Wen, 2012). 2.9 Genders and UG Gender differences have been identified as an important aspect in computer-related research (Gunawardena McIsaac, as cited in Kim Chang, 2007). The issue of limited women in the fields of technology and ICT remains a topic of interest for both the scientific community and decision-makers today (Sà ¡inz Là ³pez-Sà ¡ez, 2010). Some studies have suggested that females may be more inclined to have computer anxiety and lower self-efficacy due to the socio-cultural background of gender (Halder, Ray, Chakrabarty, 2010). Gutek and Bikson (as cited in Harrison Rainer, 1992) also find that men tend to demonstrate computer-related skills at workplace. In another instance, Wilder, Mackie, and Cooper (as cited in Harrison Rainer, 1992) find that males show greater interest in using a computer compared to females. In more recent research, Leung (2003) finds socioeconomic status such as gender, with the exception of age, to be predictive of Internet use, and that heavy users of the web are usually males. Although Okazaki (2006) asserts that effect of gender on mobile Internet service adoption is uncertain, married women indicate more negative perceptions than married men. Besides, a study on mobile phone UG by Ran (2008) reveals that males are significantly skewed towards a certain news-seeking need. Roy (2009) also discovers gender-related differences in perceived Internet use. In terms of social media UG, gender-related differences have also been found in a slew of studies such as Sveningsson Elm (2007), Joinson (2008), Jones, Millermaier, Goya-Martinez, and Schuler (2008), Thelwall (2009), as well as Thelwall, Wilkinson, and Uppal (2010). Volman, van Eck, Heemskerk, and Kuiper (2005) contend that the development of software, websites, and even teaching materials needs to have gender sensitivities taken into consideration in order to facilitate better learning among male and female pupils, who demonstrate very different preferences and attitudes towards ICT. Also in line with their idea are Halder, Ray, and Chakrabarty (2010), who suggest the importance of studying behavioral differences between people with respect to information processing and searching as such behaviors have to be more holistically understood and generalised before information retrieval systems and user support services are designed. Those are some implications of how gender differences could impact human behavior associated with the acceptance of information and technologies. With gender being neglected as a significant variable, studying human information behavior will remain incomplete (Nahl Harada; Roy, Taylor, Chi, as cited in Halder, Ray, and Chakrabarty, 2010). It is, therefore, of the essence to find out if the influence of gender is valid in this social media UG study. If valid, which aspect of motivations is users social media experience influenced the most?