Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

This paper discusses the notion that individuals can build and maintain online relationships that are satisfying. Social information processing theory (SIP) was developed by Joseph Walther in 1992 to answer the question how the Internet and World Wide Web impacted the ways people communicated. The underlying question was whether people could really form a meaningful relationship when their only point of contact was through a computer. When Walther developed SIP in the early 1990s the prevailing response to the question was no. However, he argues that given the opportunity for sufficient exchange of social messages and subsequent relational growth, “as goes face-to-face communication, so goes online communication.” (Griffin, Ledbetter, & Sparks, 2019). Walther goes so far to suggest that people can indeed form relationships online that are satisfying, and sometimes even more satisfying than their offline interactions. Furthermore, Walther believes SIP can be as effective for its users similar to theories such as presence theory, social penetration theory, and uncertainty reduction theory.