Instant Messaging, Page 29
& Brashers, 1995). The theory proposes that individuals consider these factors in conjunction
with the type of message they intend to convey in selecting a communication medium: Richer
media are better suited for communicating highly equivocal or ambiguous information in which
there is a high likelihood for miscommunication. Leaner media, on the other hand, are better
suited for routine communication or that which involves unambiguous information. For this
perspective, IM is best suited for routine and mundane tasks but should be problematic for
achieving more strategic goals. However, other research suggests that leaner channels may be
better suited for strategic behavior. O’Sullivan (1996) proposed the impression management
model that holds that channel preferences are strongly influenced by impression management
concerns. Tests of this model indicate that individuals use media to regulate information about
them as to minimize costs and maximize rewards associated with existing impressions (i.e., own
and relational partner’s) (cf. O’Sullivan, 2000). Particularly relevant, yet in contrast to what
would be expected according to media richness theory, was that when positive impressions could
be potentially threatened in an interaction, individuals expressed a preference for using leaner
media. Clearly, additional research is needed to address these and other related issues in order to
further inform the relational maintenance literature.
Just as the literature on relational maintenance is challenged to account for the use of
mediated channels, the prevalence of IM as maintenance tool also challenges theory and research
on CMC to account for relational maintenance processes. Existing perspectives have
overemphasized the development of relationships, although research indicates that more time and
effort is directed at insuring their ongoing success (Duck, 1988). Processes such as information
seeking, conflict, social support, and deception have played pivotal roles in our understanding of
relationships in FtF settings. The fact that they may occur through mediated as well as
Convention