Title

Maintaining connections with those you know in a virtual world

Date of this Version

1-1-2005

Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Details

Interim status: Citation only.

Horstmanshof, L. & Power, M. R., (2005) Maintaining Connections With Those You Know In A Virtual World. Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association, Christchurch, New Zealand.

To obtain a copy of this conference paper please contact the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association.
Copyright ©ANZCA & University of Canterbury, 2005.

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of SMS (Short Messaging Service) to maintain connection within established groups of friends despite geographical dislocation. It tests the ideas of the social limitations of a virtual world where the communication is phatic rather than extended due to the message constraints of the SMS. The data is provided from an online survey which obtained details of use and preferences following on from focus group research conducted by the two researchers and previously reported upon (Horstmanshof and Power, 2004).