As I’m really not creative or imaginative enough to take on another identity, I chose the second option to discuss this week. Forgive me if the first incident sounds a little cliché, but my friend’s experience over the weekend seems very applicable here. A friend and I were at a party this past Friday night where she met a guy and subsequently exchanged numbers with him at the end of the night. She was now faced with the dilemma that typically arises the day after meeting someone of whether to text, call or Facebook the person and how long to wait before doing so. After waiting what she deemed to be the “appropriate” time, she decided to text him a very subtle message because she didn’t want to seem over eager to speak to him. Instead of choosing a richer media, like a phone call, for this interaction, she purposely opted for a lean media in order to convey a certain air of nonchalance with an ambiguous text message.
Her experience was inconsistent with Media Richness Theory because she didn’t choose the richest medium to send the desired message. From experiences that my friends and I have had with text-based flirting, we repeatedly choose a much leaner media even though the information sent is of an extremely equivocal nature. I think it better aligns with the second hypothesis of O’Sullivan’s Impression Management Model, which states that when the locus expected to be self, we prefer a mediated interaction. Because the results of the text messaging would directly affect how the guy would perceive her, she chose a medium based on the amount of control she could exert over the communication.
The second selection of a medium occurred when I had to inform one of my TA’s that I would have to miss section this week due to a religious holiday. Since it was only logistics and the message was extremely to the clear, I decided the best option was to email him. This interaction supports the Media Richness Theory because of the unequivocal nature of the information sent. The optimal media in this instance is a lean media, like email, because it’s the most efficient way to send the desired message.
In both instances, a lean media was used to rely a desired message. However, as the content of the message differed in both cases, they each supported a different theory of Impression Management.
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You gave great examples for why Media Richness Theory would or would not support your media selections. Recently meeting a guy at a party and wanting to contact him later is the perfect idea to me of what an equivocal task is. Your friend was not exactly sure what she wanted to get out of the said interaction--no meeting time was set, no specific information was exchanged, yet a subtle message was meant to be sent. Because the medium was lean, it was purposefully meant to be unclear what the message she sent was supposed to mean. Good job!
I also think choosing a medium depends on the type of person you communicate with and how many others have communicated with this person in the past. For example, you didn't feel intimidated e-mailing your TA because your TA may have seemed friendly and have expected to be e-mailed by his or her students, while the guy your friend texted may not have been expecting a text and his reaction may not be exactly anticipated.
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