Interacting via SMS: Practices of social closeness and reciprocation

This paper deals with the sequential structure of communication via short message service (SMS) among adults and young adults, aged 25–35 and 50–65, respectively. A collection of 173 SMS exchanges for personal communication, spontaneously composed by participants, was gathered. Each exchange was photographed from the display of the participant's mobile phone and then analysed with the approach of conversation analysis. A questionnaire was also administered during the collection procedure. The analysis of the practices organizing the action sequence reveals that exchanges frequently lack openings and closures, show an effort towards reciprocation and use implicit or anticipated actions. Social presence seems then characterized by a sense of constant availability, symmetric commitment and shared understanding. It is concluded that the sequential structure of mediated communication may give insightful details on the nature of the social presence thereby constituted and may provide a criterion to compare different communication modes.