Communication Theories that apply to Social Media research.

1. SIDE Model and it’s
Application to Social
Media
PRESENTED BY SREYOSHI DEY, MENGMENG TANG & LINDSEY
O’LAUGHLIN

2. This CMC theory can be first broken
down into two parts
 Social Identity Theory
 Deindividuation Effects

3. Social identity theory
 How do we identify ourselves?
 What are the key points in our identity?
 Is it just our name? Or is it more than that?

4. Social Identity Theory
 Henri Tajfel, 1979
 Individual identity is not just
derived from the individual’s sense
of their own selves.
 One’s group membership plays a
major role. Such group
memberships range from race,
ethnicity, country, culture,
education, field of work and etc.
 In-group and out-group
Picture courtesy: http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/Tajfel's_Theory_of_Social_Identity.jpg

5. Deindividuation effects
Mob or herd mentality, crowd behavior, collective action…
Picture courtesy: http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/nakedpastor/files/2008/05/herd_2.jpg

6. Deindividuation effects
 Group memberships are crucial to a social being’s life.
 Individuals in a group (in-group) setting…
 …are likely to lose self-awareness or fail to acknowledge their individual reality.
 This theory is mostly used to understand the group effects on individuals by
social-psychologists and psychologists.
 Applied to Computer Mediated Communication it suggests that individuals on
the Internet lose their self-awareness, just like in any other group setting, and
therefore lose their individual identity, and join the wider group. The anonymity
of CMC has a major role to play.

7. SIDE – Social Identity model of
deindividuation effects
 Proposed by Lea and Spears in 1991
 Developed gradually and was first expressed in a concrete statement in the
works of Reicher, Spears and Postmes (1995).
 The SIDE model argues that as opposed to the de-individuation theory’s
proposition where the anonymity lend by Social Networking Sites and other
CMC leads to the loss of self-awareness among individuals, it is that very
anonymity which help individuals to identify, affirm and strengthen their
individual as well as group identities (Postmes, Spears, & Lea, 1998,2000).
 Key to this are the social cues transmitted through the social media.

8. In simple terms…
For example: I always wanted to play the Cello, but it’s a
knowledge kept to myself.
 I come across a Cello playing online friend, who introduces me to a
Facebook group of people who play Cello as a hobby. I join in.
Through discussions, exchange of music, notes on how to play,
where to buy a cello, and finally acting upon it I realize I ‘can’ play
the Cello. I discover a new in-group, a new identity, a new part to my
individual self. I am a Cello player.
Picture courtesy: http://www.sharmusic.com/images/carousel_cello_sh500c.png

9. Application to Social Media
 SIDE model answers a lot of critical reviews of CMC, particularly
with respect to social identity and social media.
 It suggests that individuals can actually develop an identity due to
the anonymous communication that CMC facilitates.
 McKenna, Green and Gleason (2002) argue that SNS can lend a
touch of intimacy and privacy due to it’s very anonymity which is
otherwise lacking in a physical face to face communication.

10. References
o McKenna, K. Y., Green, A. S., & Gleason, M. E. (2002). Relationship formation on the Internet:
What's the big attraction? Journal os social issues, vol 58, no.1, 9-31.
oPostmes, T., Spears, R., & Lea, M. (1998). Breaching or building social boundaries? SIDE-Effcts of
computer mediated communication. Communication research, vol 25 no.6, 689-715.
o Postmes, T., Spears, R., & Lea, M. (2000). The formation of group norms in computer-mediated
communication. Human communication research, Vol 26 No.3, 341-371.
o S. D. Reicher , R. Spears & T. Postmes (1995) A Social Identity Model of Deindividuation
Phenomena, European Review of Social Psychology, 6:1, 161-198, DOI:
10.1080/14792779443000049
o Tajfel, H. (1982). Social identity and intergroup relations. Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the
University of Cambridge.

11. Talking about Social Media…
Picture courtesy: http://www.personal.psu.edu/bfr3/blogs/applied_social_psychology/Screen%20shot%202011-11-28%20at%208.28.33%20PM.png

12. Coordinated Management of
Meaning and it’s Application to
Social Media
PRESENTED BY MENGMENG TANG, SREYOSHI DEY & LINDSEY
O’LAUGHLIN

13. Communication process as we know it…

14. CMM (1980) says…
CMM posits that as human beings, we create and manage our social
realities through communication, through the conversations with
each other. We understand on the basis of what we know, and then
act on the basis of that knowledge.
“What do you do when someone new extends their hand to you with
a smile?”

15. But there are certain Rules…
A rule based theory, it contends that there are certain rules on which
human communication depends.
Constitutive rules – They express the meanings which help people
to understand or interpret a situation.
Regulative rules – Rules of action, it directs the people to act in a
certain way.

16. In CMM there are 3 different processes which
apply to communication
 Coordination
Each interaction leads to what is called a pattern or ‘stories lived’. It implies a certain
level of assimilation and accommodation for each communicator, a process which is not
always smooth.
 Coherence
Constructing a meaning or the process of ‘building a story’. There are stories which are
meant for the world at large, stories based on coherence, where everyone shares the
same meanings. Then there are stories where the meanings are coordinated.
 Mystery
‘Stories unexpressed’ or the communicated stories which remain unexplained.

17. What if communication was like a dance?
Graphic image courtesy: http://www.rdillman.com/HFCL/TUTOR/Relation/relate5.html
The Communication Dance (Coherence)

18. Graphic image courtesy: http://www.rdillman.com/HFCL/TUTOR/Relation/relate5.htmlAN EXAMPLE

19. So “where’s the beef?”

20. CMM History
 First phase (1973-1980): Theory building, synthesizing concepts, establishing
central ideas and peripheral ideas.
 Second phase (1980-1995): Sustained research projects, topics included
therapy, intercultural communication, conflict/dispute resolution, national
development, and public discourse.
 Third phase (1980-1995): Conceptual development, integrates with other
theories like narrative theory and critical theory.
 Fourth phase (1995-present): Praxis. “Scholar-practitioners”

21. How does it apply to Social Media?
We thought along the lines of Twitter Hashtags, e.g., #FollowFriday
What does it mean?
What about #TravelTuesday?
Without the coordinate management of meaning for each of these hashtags,
would they have held any importance for so many individuals?

22. References:
o Happy Fun Communication Land. (2015). Coordinated management of meaning. Retrieved at:
http://www.rdillman.com/HFCL/TUTOR/Relation/relate5.html
o Pearce, W.B., & Cronen, V. (1980). Communication, action, and meaning: The creation of social
realities. New York: Praeger.
o Pearce Associates Seminar. (2004). The coordinated management of meaning. San Mateo: Pearce
Associates.
o Univeristy of Twente, Coordinated Management of Meaning. Retireved at:
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clusters/Language%20Theory%20and%20
Linguistics/Coordinated_Management_Meaning/