Through the frames of media richness theory and social presence, describe the media characteristics of communication that occurs face-to-face versus communication that occurs via interactive media.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: Media richness theory describes the potential information-carrying capacity of a communication medium. According to this theory, FtF communication is the richest medium for communicating because you can see facial expressions and body gestures, as well as hear the tone, speed, and quality of a person’s voice. All these factors relay a tremendous amount of information and allow you to interpret and respond to messages more accurately. You not only hear the words, or the content of the message, but you also receive the relational messages that are being sent nonverbally and that reveal how that person feels about you. It is a revealing form of communication, transmitting emotions that the receiver may or may not wish to experience. There is no delay here for receiving messages. According to media richness theory, some types of mediated communication do allow for a certain amount of richness. Consider video/audio communication, or Skype. When you communicate using a webcam, you might miss some immediate context cues, such as body posture or gestures, but you have the benefit of seeing some of the nonverbal behaviors of the person you’re communicating with. The telephone is a less rich medium, revealing some paralinguistic cues (for example, tone of voice) but no facial expression, eye gaze, or gestures. The least-rich media, according to this theory, are text-based messages. Many suggest that FtF communication is generally high in social presence. Telephone conveys less social presence than FtF interaction but more than email communication. Mostly text-based media is low in media richness, low in social presence, and often asynchronous, but some forms of interactive media, such as Snapchat, are evolving to change this