Social Mediating Technologies: Social Affordances and Functionalities

Abstract

A framework for analyzing computer-mediated communication is presented, based on Clark's theory of common ground. Four technologies are reviewed: Facebook, Wikipedia, Blacksburg Electronic Village, and World of Warcraft, to assess their “social affordances,” that is, how communication is supported and how the technologies provide facilities to promote social relationships, groups, and communities. The technology affordances are related to motivations for use and socio-psychological theories of group behaviour and social relationships. The review provides new insights into the nature of long-lasting conversations in social relationships, as well as how representations of individuals and social networks augment interaction.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research was supported by the EPSRC/ESRC project Developing Theory for Evolving Socio-technical Systems (TESS). We thank the reviewers for their comments, which improved the framework and the article.