Video-mediated communication is becoming a ubiquitous feature of everyday life. This chapter considers the differences between face-to-face and video-mediated communication in terms of co-presence and considers the implications for the communication of emotion, self-disclosure, and relationship rapport. Following initial consideration of the concepts of physical presence and social presence, we describe recent studies of the effect of presence on the facial communication of emotion. We then delve further into the different social psychological aspects of presence, and present a study that investigated how these various aspects independently impact upon self-disclosure and rapport. We conclude by considering how the absence of co-presence in video-mediated interaction can liberate the communicators from some of the social constraints normally associated with face-to-face interaction, while maintaining others and introducing new constraints specific to the medium.
Download Full-text PDF [amazon box=”0521619971″]Further Reading
- Flaming in computer-mediated communication: Observations, explanations, implications
- Computer-mediated communication and social identity
- Social Psychology of the Internet
- Constructing the networked organization: Content and context in the development of electronic communications.
- How social is Internet communication? A reappraisal of bandwidth and anonymity effects
- Engaging in email discussion: conversational context and social identity
- Social identity, group norms, and deindividuation: Lessons from computer-mediated communication for social influence in the group
- Love at first byte: Building personal relationships over computer networks
- When are net effects gross products? The power of influence and the influence of power in computer-mediated communication
- Power and gender in computer-mediated communication: A SIDE look

About Dr. Martin Lea
I'm interested in understanding how people communicate, relate and behave on the Internet, social media, and the Web. You can find full-texts of my publications here, including contributions to over 20 books. If you're looking for my website design and hosting services for researchers, authors, educators, and therapists, go here.