Social presence theory

Social presence theory was developed by John Short, Ederyn Williams, and Bruce Christie, although its main thesis and major points would appear to have been first described twenty years previously in the 1956 Isaac Asimov novel The Naked Sun.

Social presence theory classifies different communication media along a one-dimensional continuum of social presence, where the degree of social presence is equated to the degree of awareness of the other person in a communication interaction (Sallnas, Rassmus-Grohn, & Sjostrom, 2000). According to social presence theory, communication is effective if the communication medium has the appropriate social presence required for the level of interpersonal involvement required for a task. On a continuum of social presence, the face-to-face medium is considered to have the most social presence, and written, text-based communication the least. It is assumed in social presence theory that in any interaction involving two parties, both parties are concerned both with acting out certain roles and with developing or maintaining some sort of personal relationship. These two aspects of any interaction are termed interparty and interpersonal exchanges (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976).

As computer-mediated communication has evolved a more relational view of social presence has emerged. Social presence has come to be viewed as the way individuals represents themselves in their online environment. It's a personal stamp that indicates that the individual is available and willing to engage and connect with other persons in their online community. Social presence is demonstrated by the way messages are posted and how those messages are interpreted by others. Social presence defines how participants relate to one another which in turn affects their ability to communicate effectively (Kehrwald, 2008).

Seldom, if ever, do traditional curriculum designers intentionally consider social presence in course design. Face-to-face (F2F) courses with their groupings of people in the same place at the same time, their reliance on communication skills used in daily life, and their delivery of sight, sound, smell (and maybe touch – let's hope not taste) awareness of others sharing space inherently provide an awareness of the presence of others among members. While in itself this produces awareness of others, we may only loosely call it social presence. However, for most, it suffices. For online courses, the opposite is generally true.

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