Abstract
Grounded in the concepts of media richness and presentational control, two popular, free instant messengers (IMs), ICQ and MSN, were compared through a snowball sample of 180 Hong Kong adolescents who completed a questionnaire anonymously. Respondents using both MSN and ICQ perceived MSN as a richer IM that offered greater control than ICQ. MSN's greater richness and control, relative to ICQ's, resulted in teenage users' spending more time and discussing various topics more frequently on MSN than on ICQ. Relative factors such as richness and control have led to better friendship quality on MSN than ICQ, but have not introduced differences in the number of friendships. Media richness and presentational control appear to be viable concepts in explaining the behavior governing the usage of IMs.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 223-240 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Chinese Journal of Communication |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 17 May 2010 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2010 |
Scopus Subject Areas
- Communication
User-Defined Keywords
- instant messenger
- friendship development
- media richness
- self-presentation
- user control
- interpersonal communication