Small talk in the Digital Age: Making Sense of Phatic Posts Danica Radovanovic Massimo Ragnedda University of Belgrade University of Sassari danica.radovanovic@gmail.com ragnedda@gmail.com ABSTRACT establish and maintain the social bonds of the interlocutors This paper presents some practical implications of a theoretical (Malinowski 1923: 151). We describe the socio-technological and web desktop analysis and addresses microposts in the Social Web communication dynamics that influence the formation of micro contextual sense and their role contributing diverse information to phatic posts. Living in an accelerating, interconnected world of the Web as part of informal and semi-formal communication and information where the demand for instant updates and news is social activities on Social Networking Sites (SNS). We reflect present here and now, different forms of communication upon and present the most pervasive and relevant socio- dynamics are formed, referring to the socio-technological communication function of an online presence on microposts and communication processes online. social networks: the phatic communication function. Although Different SNS provide an expressive medium to share with others some theorists such as Malinowski say these microposts have no our feelings, needs, current status, or simple statements. Those practical information value, we argue that they have semantic and simple and short statements can carry light information or low social value for the interlocutors, determined by socio- information such as: “I’m eating a dark chocolate”, or “listening technological and cultural factors such as online presence and to new album by Air”, or just “life is beautiful”. It can also social awareness. We investigate and offer new implications for provoke a communication: “anyone there?”, “does anyone emerging social and communication dynamics formed around know...?”, etc. On the other side there are applications driven by microposts, what we call here “phatic posts”. We suggest that small micro posts (built by social networks) that enable the apparently trivial uses and features of SNS actually play an creation of phatic expressions in the form of microblogs, important role in setting the social and informational context of Facebook updates, signal indications of “like”, “poke”, Instant the rest of the conversation - a “phatic” function - and thus that messenger signals in the form of emoticons and wide variety of these phatic posts are key to the success of SNS. smileys, etc. The aim of this paper is to argue the social consequences about the new way of communication on the SNS. In particular we are General Terms evolving from the concept of phatic communion coming from the Internet, Communication, Theory anthropologist Malinowski and from phatic function coming from the linguist Jakobson. These two concepts can relate with Keywords networked sociality, the non dialogic and non-informational social network sites, microposts, phatic posts, phatic discussion on the social networks. Although some theorists such communication, online communication, social dynamics as Malinowski say that phatic messages do not have a practical information value, we are arguing in this paper that they do have semantic and social value for the interlocutors, determined by 1. INTRODUCTION socio-technological and cultural factors. We are using in this paper a new coined term for such micro-posts that imply in their This paper is a theoretical and implication study of the content or form a phatic communication function: a term phatic- communicative and social function of microposts on social posts. This phenomenon can be characterized as “new-word”, network sites (SNS). We do not present statistical or applications- which is employed here to describe the fact that it is both new and driven data or suggest some pattern, but we do offer qualitative a word. New-words are clearly evident in all human culture. The implications, theories, and better understanding of the current paper consists of three main parts. First we will discuss the origin social paradigm. This paper is implications-driven research and of phatic communication and phatic culture and the way they are presents the relevance of microposts and phatic posts as presented on social networks. Second, we will discuss motivations derivatives of phatic communication, a term coined by for creating and consuming phatic posts and their importance for Malinowski to describe the phenomenon of small talk. Phatic everyday communication and socializing. Finally we consider communication is “a type of speech in which ties of union are “small - talk language” on SNS, its dynamics, functions, and created by a mere exchange of words” and its purpose is to relevance to microposts. Microposts are a dominant form in both virtual habitats (social networks, virtual communities) and their mobile extensions and they are of socio-technological value. Social signaling and online presence are both communication determinants for creating Copyright c 2012 held by author(s)/owner(s). microposts. We will conclude with a few examples, based on Published as part of the #MSM2012 Workshop proceedings, web desktop sphere analysis (Hine, 2005), personal web available online as CEUR Vol-838, at: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-838 observations and qualitative analysis of microposts and the #MSM2012, April 16, 2012, Lyon, France. semantics of phatic communication. In some social, linguistics, 10 · #MSM2012 · 2nd Workshop on Making Sense of Microposts · and semantic theories, phatic may indicate communication being establish relationships lost in time, such as those between former mundane, information-less, without any value. We show in this classmates or older friends. paper that do contain information messages, signals, values of staying up-to-date with micro and macro world of events and news, flirt, chat, public expressions of everyday life and emotions 3. MOTIVATIONS FOR CREATING AND among the participants. CONSUMING PHATIC POSTS At this point we are explaining why phatic communication practices are useful. Beside the demands of constant online 2. MALINOWSKI AND JAKOBSON: THE connected presence in an increasingly networked world, we are ORIGIN OF “PHATIC POSTS” exploring motivations why phatic communication is being Bronislaw Malinowski, an anthropologist who carried out a lot of supported, encouraged, and practiced by social media services. research in ethnographical fields, introduces in his book “Coral The importance of phatic communication has already been Gardens and Their Magic’’ two fundamental concepts for the recognized by software engineers defining protocols for use in study of language: context of situation and context of culture messaging. Notably, the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and (1935: 73). He introduced three major ideas into his semantic SIMPLE (Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and theory: the first is related to the context of linguistic data; the Presence Leveraging Extensions) protocols draw extensively on second idea concerns the range of meaning and finally the third is the idea of “presence” as a signal to networks of users that that the context of situation may allow one to disambiguate communication is possible and of the disposition of other users to sentences that are semantically unclear. All these three new ideas communicate. In some senses, phatic posts up-level the same are important here. In particular it is interesting to underline the principle. first and the last one. In the first one Malinowski clearly said that However, we are focusing on the phatic function. It is crucial the real linguistic fact is the full countenance within its context of because what really counts in human interaction is to stay in touch situation and in the last one that it is the context of situation that and let others know that “I’m here too”. To do this participants permits one to understand ambiguous sentences. just write “nonsense”, expressing their thoughts freely and making In this paper we are arguing that the origin of modern, social web witty comments. This apparently “nonsense writing”, has an micro posts (tweets, Facebook status updates, likes, pokes, geo- intimate purpose, not so much in what has been written, but check-ins on Foursquare, Flickr comments, etc.) – which we call keeping in contact and reinforcing relationship. For example, here “phatic posts” - have their origins in the human need for Twitter, beside micro-blogging, implies social networking, phatic communication, i.e. communication for social upkeep. The interacting, text messaging, learning, enabling communication quality of the information being communicated has no practical both through the internet and mobile devices. These value and is rather mundane and comes from Malinowski’s communications are designed to be read as soon as they are sent; concept of phatic communion. In particular phatic communion has essentially they are updates creating the notion and feeling of three phatic functions: a social function to establish and maintain intimacy by being constantly connected online, in real time with social connections; a communicative function to demonstrate that others, globally. These practices have resulted in forming ‘phatic the channel of communication is open and present oneself as a media’ (Miller 2008) in which communication without content potential communication partner; a validation and recognition has taken precedence. Indeed, these phatic messages tend to function to indicate recognition of one’s interlocutor as a potential reinforce existing relationships and facilitate further relation communicative partner. To these three main functions, Philip without giving information or adding to the messages. Riley has added another three functions: to provide indexical For many users, the point of Twitter is the maintenance of information for social categorization (that is to signal different connected presence, very similar to saying “what’s up?” in an aspects of social identity); to negotiate the relationship, in analogue space as you pass someone on the street when you have particular relative status, roles and affectivity (which clearly could no intention of finding out what is actually going on. The phatic be seen operating if we look at the various forms of greetings and function is communication practice that simply indicates the address that some individuals use according to his or her social or possibility that communication may occur. affective relationship with the interlocutor); to reinforce social Furthermore, one of the contemporary digital media scholars, structure (Riley 2007: 131-32). Mizuko Ito, described the appearance of phatic communication Another important concept useful to better understand phatic processes among Japanese teens in “low-content text message” culture (Miller 2008) and its social implication in everyday life is groups, whose purpose is simply to stay in contact with others. the term “phatic function” coined by Roman Jakobson. As is well These mundane communication exchanges represent the kind of known, Jakobson included the metalinguistic (verifying the code), communication that arises among people who are overwhelmed as one of five general functions of language, along with: Emotive with other forms of communication. For example, in Japanese (expressing the sender’s state); Conative (inciting the receiver’s culture, phatic function is called aizuchi. Aizuchi tweets are real response); Phatic (tries to maintain contact with the receiver); time, continuous, two-sided communication where, if one drops Referential (relating to a context); and Poetic (existing as a out of the communication thread, the dynamics of the aizuchi is construct for its own sake). Clearly depending upon the meaning lost. Aizuchi also involves very short expressions of approval or of a particular speech act, one of these functions will come to disapproval and expressions and connotations of someone’s prevail while the others remain subordinate. In particular in our online presence. Aizuchi has a social function: to keep discussion we are arguing about the phatic function of online connectedness with others. The stage of connectedness is always communication in the context of this theoretical framework and characterized by a very high degree of alertness. We have we are going to discuss why the phatic function that tries to conducted a set of interviews 1 , including an interview with maintain contact with the receiver is important on SNS for maintaining and strengthening existing relationships. This is more 1 Radovanovic, D, Qualitative research, set of semi-structured evident in the case of Facebook where its primary purpose is to re- interviews (N -31) from 2010 to 2012. 11 · #MSM2012 · 2nd Workshop on Making Sense of Microposts · Takashi Ota, Japanese software developer and Wikimedian, in meaning and within their context denote something: interaction, order to clarify aizuchi. One can assume aizuchi as a sign of the connected presence and fostering and maintaining connections. confirmation of presence: "I'm listening", "it's your turn", "I won't Human relationships depend more and more on new technologies, interrupt you" or "you're expected to keep talking". This is a such as computers, mobile phones and, most relevantly here, on typical effect when interlocutors use aizuchi during direct their social network identities. These enable us to interact with conversation or phone calls, but it may be applied to online others and human relationships in new interconnected virtual conversations as well. When being used online, aizuchi “makes habitats become increasingly dependant on these objects. This you think as if your counterpart is talking in front of you. It makes “dependency” creates a new sociability pattern of being constantly you feel we are connected”. online and present and of relationships becoming a fluid ever- All those examples, again, show how the phatic function is changing continuum. These new technologies enable the exchange fundamental in SNS because the aim is to maintain and reinforce of communication practices that we call here ‘phatic expressions’: relationship: This is why Twitter and Facebook are the virtual phatic posts that enable creating, fostering and sustaining realms of constant connections, sharing and relationships between relationships and social interaction through non formal people, interactive playgrounds where the phatic function is really conversations, online presence and intimacy. Some researchers important, if not fundamental. Online awareness streams that like Licoppe and Smoreda (2005) indicated that non formal and indicate online presence are incredibly good at providing phatic non-dialogic means of interaction had helped the emergence of communication. Phatic function being the language we use for the small communicative processes and gestures whose purpose at the purpose of being social, not so much for sharing information or first glance may appear to lack meaningful information, but in its ideas, though these two are not excluded: it is in the virtual substance those gestures and communication expressions foster communication ‘what’s up?’ or ‘how’re you doing?” sociability and maintain social connections. As we showed earlier Our ancestors used to check in at different places, using chalk, in the paper, these are communicative processes Malinowski pieces of wood and stones to signal their presence or potential described as phatic communion. Phatic expressions in danger to their community, in order to establish social contact in communication practices are very meaningful because they everyday life. Computer-mediated and mobile-mediated indicate and imply social recognition, online intimacy and environments today provide the channel of communication to be sociability in online communities. Phatic posts potentially denote open and to present oneself as a potential communication partner. a lot more substance and weight to them than the content itself Pokes, likes, signals, phatic posts and other small, micro-symbols suggests. indicate the recognition of one’s interlocutor (presence and Coming back to the phatic function postulated by Jakobson we validation) as a potential communicative partner. Once the can add a new function particularly present, on the social connection is established, there are a variety of communicative networks: conflict avoiding. On Facebook the two most popular processes happening on the walls of SNS profiles with the forms of phatic communication on which we want to focus - important consequence of keeping social and communication besides status updates - are the concept of like and poke. This last dynamics alive. form seems very interesting because Facebook has a "Like" button and not an “I don’t like” button. This is because it seems to be much easier to maintain balance in a community if one establishes 4. THE DYNAMICS OF PHATIC POSTS relationships of mutual conformistic harmony with other people Facebook exists to make the world “more and more connected”, and it could create a conflictual relationship, reducing interaction and by that it encourages, among other dynamics, the phatic (someone could be unfriended) and reducing the total number of function of interaction and communication through sociable the users. Iacchetti, Altafini and Iacono (2011: 1) have based their applications, games, and add-ons. For example: the basic two theory on the “Balance Theory” a motivational theory of attitude phatic expression functions are the “Like” button and “Poke”. change, proposed by Fritz Heider, (1958) whose work was related Here a couple of examples coming from qualitative research on a to the Gestalt school. This theory tends to study the origin and the social network. David, (engineer, 50) talking about the Poke structure of tensions and conflicts in a network of individuals function said: “I have a few people I have been exchanging whose mutual relationships are characterized in terms of "pokes" with for ever - in most cases I have no recollection who friendship and hostility. Furthermore this theory, using a started it! They simply mean "I was online and thought of mathematical model, shows how on a social network the users you".”Another example comes from Corky (programmer, 39): “I tend to be more conformist and that clearly shows how stressful respond to pokes, but I very rarely initiate them. I saw a post once situations from a social perspective tend to be avoided. In fact that said "'Like' buttons mean "I like your post, but I am far too they show how a “balanced relation” is more valuable than an lazy or not interested enough to make an actual comment, or in a unbalanced relation that tends to generate frustration. Therefore, hurry" - I think poking is similar. I am thinking of you, or I by using phatic function, such as keeping in touch or performing noticed your profile photo in my feed or whatever, and I poked light conversations, we are avoiding contrast and conflict, and the you to let you know you crossed my mind, but I'm far too lazy, or social and communication tensions are weakening, excluding uninterested or busy to take the time to write a message. " whose who would disturb the structure of the social network. In Communicative dynamics established with the web 2.0 paradigm this way phatic communicative practices are useful, because they shift and the development of microblogging culture and the usage allow the members of the SNS to be involved in the discussion, of social media and SNS using mobile communication, sometimes without having anything to say, just by clicking on encouraged users to practice in everyday life what we call here: a “Like” to say “I agree with you”. The Facebook feature “poke” phatic display of connected presence. This phatic display of a offers the same situation. Facebook defines poke as a social utility connected presence is expressed through microposts, comments, that connects you with the people around you. Radovanovic short messages, leet-speak, tweets, status updates, Facebook (2008) indicated that in social networking terms, poke is social add-ons, and embedded applications. All these forms have contextual, and the context of poke is dependent upon the current elements of communicative discourse enabling users to get level of familiarity between the ‘poker’ and the ‘pokee’. It usually socially engaged through brief, non-formal messages that have denotes an expression such as: “Hey, what’s up?” or “Look at 12 · #MSM2012 · 2nd Workshop on Making Sense of Microposts · me!”, saying “Hi” to someone you already know well: “Hey, I’m application of phatic communication and small-talk, tensions are here, online!” followed usually by a message or email. There are weakened and the social network in which it is applied could be numerous possible meanings and interpretations behind the poke positively influenced. We thus believe the role of phatic posts and in the context of social networking technologies they can deserves further scrutiny. It is clearly important to the success of include: a) showing romantic interest for the other; b) a high SNS, and has analogues in the underlying protocols used by visibility, low pressure way of getting attention; c) a lightweight communication technology. We expect there will be re-usable interaction. patterns that system designers can use to ensure channels for Following a feature that is typical of participative web phatic communication are available. There is clearly much applications, trending topics on Twitter provide an insight into the opportunity for further investigations and research, since we different types of communication dynamics and practices. anticipate that the role of phatic communications is inherent in all Through web observation of trending topic tweets we identified human social communication and expect to find it implicated in four types of phatic posts: any online communications system. a) the first type of phatic posts implies short nodding, approval or disapproval using expressions like: yes, right, uhm, hm, lol, <3, smileys here when they are used as a message or a (hash)tag, and 6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS many other signs and expressions from leet-speak and everyday Thanks to Dr Bernie Hogan, Oxford Internet Institute, Simon communications similar to aizuchi in Japanese. Phipps of the Open Source Initiative, and Dejan Petrovic, b) the second type of phatic posts implies information about BMm http://dejanseo.com.au/dan/ mundane everyday life in order to start up the conversation. Some may call it a pointless conversation form without any value. But looking below those pointless phatic posts one would realize that they contain an information value that actually carries a specific 7. REFERENCES message. For example, a person who is just eating an ice-cream [1] boyd, danah. (2010). "Living Life in Public: Why American informs their audience of the type of food they are eating. If that Teens Choose Publicity Over Privacy." AOIR 2010. person is a micro-celebrity it brings even bigger value to this Gothenburg, Sweden, October 23. 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