Social Information Processing Theory - Coursework Example

?SOCIAL INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY Introduction Communication is an important human process. Communication involves the interactive change of information between two people (Humphrey, 2001). The relevance and need for communication among human beings even increases with the fact that human beings are social creatures who survive greatly through the kind of interactions they have around them. Through communication people gain a better understanding of who they are, who people around them are and what is involved in their immediate environment and so it is said that communication is essential for human survival. Due to its importance and necessity perhaps, there has been a number of mediums through sociologists and other scientists have devised forms of communication. Many different theories of communication have also sprung up to make the subject of communication more academic and easier to study and understand. One of these theories, which also transcends into a form of communication is the social information processing theory proposed by Joseph Walther in 1992 (Hissam and Daniel, 2009). In this essay, there is a critical analysis of the theory in terms of how online communication relationships may be established, the differences that exists between computer mediated communication, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of computer mediate communication. Online Communication Relationship One of the fundamental aspects of the social information processing theory is the use of online communication. Indeed, the advancement of technology has made online communication a very common phenomenon of late. Through devices such as smart phones, laptops, desktop computers and tablet computers, people use the internet to interact with one another. A unique feature of online communication is the kind of relationship that is established between two people communicating. First, online communication makes it easier to establish relationship even with unfamiliar people, who may latter become entrusted friends. This is because there are avenues by which a user of particular software will have access to all other people similarly online. Another aspect of online communication relationship is the fact that it enhances diversity in the formats of communication, as per son offered several avenues to send and receive information including the use of verbal communication, video calling, text messaging, pictures and the kind. All of these avenues help in making relationships forth coming and effective (Humphrey, 2001). The only hindrance identified with online communication relationship is that it trust and interpersonal relationship development takes a very long time to develop. This is because in most cases, there are very few things that can be learnt about people involved in the communication at a time and so the need to be sluggish in developing interpersonal relationship has always been advised. New technology and computer mediated communication Comparatively, computer mediated communication and for that matter social information processing theory has become better than it used to be in 1992 when it was first proposed by Joseph Walther. The reason behind this is the indulgence and evolution of new technology, most of which has come in the form of internet assisted information sharing. Examples of such new media include authoring tools like internet blogs, social information aggregation such as scratchmysoul.com and collaboration tools including the Wikipedia (Humphrey, 2001). Other forms of new technology that has enhanced computer mediated communication is tagging systems like Flickr and collaborative filtering such as Yahoo Answers. But of all these, social networking could be said to be the most influential towards the advancement of computer mediated communication. When it started newly, social networking was used only on a friendship communication but today the trend has changed such that social networking is used by almost every organization and institution that matters for communication purposes. Computer mediated communication versus face-to-face communication Identifying social information processing theory as a makeup of online communication, it would easily be said that the description of computer mediated communication best fits what an online communication since most online communications take place by use of one form of computer or the other. Face-to-face communication on the other hand is the traditional form of communication whereby people meet to interact. In the social information processing theory, a key line of differentiation that is drawn between computer mediated communication and face-to-face communication is the use of impression formation. It is argued that in a computer mediated communication, people are given a better advantage to rebrand the composite mental image that others have about them by the use of nonverbal cues (Hissam and Daniel, 2009). In effect, computer mediated communication could be said to be highly hyperpersonal to face to face communication. Indeed, whiles in a face-to-face communication most of the exchanges happen without the privilege of the issuer of the information to undertake a prior consideration and evaluation of the communication, computer mediated communication makes editing and restructuring of information highly possible. Strengths of online communication One of the major strengths of online communications that cannot be denied is the fact that online communication allows for easy accessibility to communication. In the traditional face to face form of communication where communication is possible only through the physical presence of communicators, online communication allows that communication takes place as long as there is access to a communication device. Today, the advancement of technology allows that there is online network and access in almost every major city or town of the world. This means that trans-border communication is also enhanced through the use of online communication. Right up to the enactment of trans-border communication is the fact that online communication could be said to be technically cheaper than face-to-face communication, which when involves long distance would demand that a person includes expenses of transportation to accomplish communication. What is more, online communication is highly effective in emergency situations whereby it is possible to reach out to people for help in emergency situations without physically having to run to these people in times of emergency. Finally, it will be noted that online communication makes the ability to store and retrieved a particular event of communication possible. For instance, online communication could be recorded using a devise. This recorded communication may be used as evidence if the need arises or may be used to serve as memories for the communication that transpired. REFERENCE LIST Hissam S and Daniel P. (2009). Communication in the Real World: A Case Study in Risk Discovery and Repair. Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute: Pittsburgh, PA Humphrey, W. S. (2001).Managing the Computer Process. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc., Read More