Communication characteristics of instant messaging: effects and predictions of interpersonal relationships

ABSTRACT

Instant Messaging is a popular medium for both social and work-related communication. In this paper we report an investigation of the effect of interpersonal relationship on underlying basic communication characteristics (such as messaging rate and duration) using a large corpus of instant messages. Our results show that communication characteristics differ significantly for communications between users who are in a work relationship and between users who are in a social relationship. We used our findings to inform the creation of statistical models that predict the relationship between users without the use of message content -- achieving an accuracy of nearly 80% for one such model. We discuss the results of our analyses and potential uses of these models.

REFERENCES

• 1: Daniel Avrahami , Scott E. Hudson, QnA: augmenting an instant messaging client to balance user responsiveness and performance, Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 06-10, 2004, Chicago, Illinois, USA [doi>10.1145/1031607.1031692]
• 2: Daniel Avrahami , Scott E. Hudson, Responsiveness in instant messaging: predictive models supporting inter-personal communication, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems, April 22-27, 2006, Montréal, Québec, Canada [doi>10.1145/1124772.1124881]
• 3: Erin Bradner , Wendy A. Kellogg , Thomas Erickson, The adoption and use of “BABBLE”: a field study of chat in the workplace, Proceedings of the Sixth European conference on Computer supported cooperative work, p.139-158, August 1999, Copenghagen, Denmark
• 4: James Bo Begole , Nicholas E. Matsakis , John C. Tang, Lilsys: Sensing Unavailability, Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 06-10, 2004, Chicago, Illinois, USA [doi>10.1145/1031607.1031691]
• 5: James Bo Begole , John C. Tang , Randall B. Smith , Nicole Yankelovich, Work rhythms: analyzing visualizations of awareness histories of distributed groups, Proceedings of the 2002 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 16-20, 2002, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA [doi>10.1145/587078.587125]
• 6: Cerulean Studios http://www.trillian.cc
• 7: Cummings, J., and Ghosh, T. Boundary-spanning ties for coordination at a distance: A relational model of communication media use in teams. (under review).
• 8: Duck, S., Turr, D., Hurst, M., and Strejc, H. Some evident truths about conversations in everyday relationships: All communications are not created equal. Human Communication Research 18, 2 (1991), 228--267.
• 9: Feldstein, S. Impression Formation in Dyads: The Temporal Dimension. In M. Davis (Ed.), Interaction Rhythms. Human Sciences Press Inc., 1982, 207--224.
• 10: Rebecca E. Grinter , Leysia Palen, Instant messaging in teen life, Proceedings of the 2002 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 16-20, 2002, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA [doi>10.1145/587078.587082]
• 11: Mark Handel , James D. Herbsleb, What is chat doing in the workplace?, Proceedings of the 2002 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 16-20, 2002, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA [doi>10.1145/587078.587080]
• 12: James D. Herbsleb , David L. Atkins , David G. Boyer , Mark Handel , Thomas A. Finholt, Introducing instant messaging and chat in the workplace, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: Changing our world, changing ourselves, April 20-25, 2002, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA [doi>10.1145/503376.503408]
• 13: Horvitz E., Koch P., Kadie C. M., and Jacobs A. Coordinate: Probabilistic Forecasting of Presence and Availability. In Proceedings of UAI'02. AAAI Press, CA, 2002, 224--233.
• 14: Ellen Isaacs , Alan Walendowski , Steve Whittaker , Diane J. Schiano , Candace Kamm, The character, functions, and styles of instant messaging in the workplace, Proceedings of the 2002 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 16-20, 2002, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA [doi>10.1145/587078.587081]
• 15: Kraut, R.E., Fish, R.S., Root, R.W., and Chalfonte, B.L. Informal Communication in Organizations: Form, Function, and Technology. In S. Oskamp & S. Spacapan (Eds.), People's Reactions to Technology. Sage, Newberry Park, 1990, 145--199.
• 16: Lotus Sametime http://www.lotus.com/sametime
• 17: Bonnie A. Nardi , Steve Whittaker , Erin Bradner, Interaction and outeraction: instant messaging in action, Proceedings of the 2000 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, p.79-88, December 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States [doi>10.1145/358916.358975]
• 18: Pennebaker, J. W., Francis, M. E., and Booth, R. J. Linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC). Erlbaum Publishers, Mahwah, NJ, 2001.
• 19: Slatalla, M. The office meeting that never ends. New York Times, Sept. 23, 1999.
• 20: Amy Voida , Wendy C. Newstetter , Elizabeth D. Mynatt, When conventions collide: the tensions of instant messaging attributed, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: Changing our world, changing ourselves, April 20-25, 2002, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA [doi>10.1145/503376.503410]
• 21: Steve Whittaker , David Frohlich , Owen Daly-Jones, Informal workplace communication: what is it like and how might we support it?, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: celebrating interdependence, p.131-137, April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts, United States [doi>10.1145/191666.191726]
• 22: Worldwide Enterprise Instant Messaging Applications 2005-2009 Forecast and 2004 Vendor Shares: Clearing the Decks for Substantial Growth. IDC Market Analysis, 2005.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.2 User/Machine Systems

General Terms:
Experimentation, Human Factors, Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
IM, communication patterns, instant messaging, interpersonal relationships, predictive models