Mediated Messages and Social Coordination

Abstract

Each system of communication introduces its own "bias" in how the coordination of social activity can he accomplished.All instances of social action ( 5 ) and forms of social relationships (11) require reciprocating communication. We will explore how various forms of mediated communication alter the processes of constructing social action and social relationships.Prior to the development of various forms of mediated communication, persons dispersed in space could communicate with each other only by means of a messenger who moved from one situation to another and back again. With the development of writing-reading skills, the level of competence and trust required for messengers was dramatically reduced. It also became possible to make a clearer distinction between the messenger and the message. When the messenger was the material carrier of the message, rather than the carrier of a material message, he was necessarily a representative (acting in behalf of) of the formulator of the message. This gave him the power to alter the message by intent or incompetency; it allowed him to be an active participant in the negotiations between two parties. With the advent of writing-reading skills, the messenger is transformed into an instrument.The advent of writing allowed separated parties to communicate with each other without necessarily informing any third party of the content of the communication. When written messages became an integral part of the organization of social units, elaborate seals were developed to ensure that unintended parties could not read the message and pass it along as though the content was still private. This development made it possible for elites to develop monopolies of knowledge (2); however, it had a particular consequence on the temporal element of reciprocity.

Couch Revisited: A Theoretical Treatment of The Information‐Technological Media of Imgur, Reddit, and Twitter

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Any examination of social organization that does not take into account the means of communication and the distribution of information excludes the essence of social reality. (Hintz Jr. and Couch :123)

I begin this section by examining Imgur alone. I then compare it with Twitter and Reddit, offering points of confluence and dissonance between the formatting of each website on interactions therein.…”

“…Any examination of social organization that does not take into account the means of communication and the distribution of information excludes the essence of social reality. (Hintz Jr. and Couch :123)…”

“…I then compare it with Twitter and Reddit, offering points of confluence and dissonance between the formatting of each website on interactions therein. This is essential, as the above quote from Hintz Jr. and Couch () indicates; in this digital age, attending to the way communication occurs means explicating the precise formatting of each digital space analyzed.…”