Given the ever-growing presence of computer-mediated communication (CMC), it is important to understand CMC and how it relates to communication in general. Despite considerable research on CMC, various features are still underrepresented, such as GIF communication. This study examines what GIF usage suggests about interlocutors’ social relationships. In particular, through a perception experiment among young adults, this study investigates how GIF usage affects perceptions of social closeness between interlocutors. I find that participants perceive interlocutors to be significantly closer when one responds to another with a GIF with embedded text instead of a text-only response, an effect that I link to increased expressiveness between people who are socially close. In addition, this effect is stronger for participants who self-report as frequent social media and GIF users than for those who do not. This could imply frequent CMC users perceive more social closeness because of their familiarity with online social cues.
","abstract_html":"<p>Given the ever-growing presence of computer-mediated communication (CMC), it is important to understand CMC and how it relates to communication in general. Despite considerable research on CMC, various features are still underrepresented, such as GIF communication. This study examines what GIF usage suggests about interlocutors’ social relationships. In particular, through a perception experiment among young adults, this study investigates how GIF usage affects perceptions of social closeness between interlocutors. I find that participants perceive interlocutors to be significantly closer when one responds to another with a GIF with embedded text instead of a text-only response, an effect that I link to increased expressiveness between people who are socially close. In addition, this effect is stronger for participants who self-report as frequent social media and GIF users than for those who do not. This could imply frequent CMC users perceive more social closeness because of their familiarity with online social cues.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Druckmiller, Alexa F."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"English Language and Literature","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Eric Acton, Ph.D.","T. Daniel Seely, Ph.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2021-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:40Z","subjects":["CMC","GIF","Perception","Social closeness","Linguistics"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1110","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Eric Acton, Ph.D.","T. Daniel Seely, Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Druckmiller, Alexa F."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-01-31T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English Language and Literature"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["CMC","GIF","Perception","Social closeness","Linguistics"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1110"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Given the ever-growing presence of computer-mediated communication (CMC), it is important to understand CMC and how it relates to communication in general. Despite considerable research on CMC, various features are still underrepresented, such as GIF communication. This study examines what GIF usage suggests about interlocutors’ social relationships. In particular, through a perception experiment among young adults, this study investigates how GIF usage affects perceptions of social closeness between interlocutors. I find that participants perceive interlocutors to be significantly closer when one responds to another with a GIF with embedded text instead of a text-only response, an effect that I link to increased expressiveness between people who are socially close. In addition, this effect is stronger for participants who self-report as frequent social media and GIF users than for those who do not. This could imply frequent CMC users perceive more social closeness because of their familiarity with online social cues.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Overhearers’ perceptions of familiarity between interlocutors in computer-mediated communication based on GIF usage"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Eric Acton, Ph.D.","T. Daniel Seely, Ph.D."],"dc:creator":["Druckmiller, Alexa F."],"dc:date.available":["2022-01-31T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Given the ever-growing presence of computer-mediated communication (CMC), it is important to understand CMC and how it relates to communication in general. Despite considerable research on CMC, various features are still underrepresented, such as GIF communication. This study examines what GIF usage suggests about interlocutors’ social relationships. In particular, through a perception experiment among young adults, this study investigates how GIF usage affects perceptions of social closeness between interlocutors. I find that participants perceive interlocutors to be significantly closer when one responds to another with a GIF with embedded text instead of a text-only response, an effect that I link to increased expressiveness between people who are socially close. In addition, this effect is stronger for participants who self-report as frequent social media and GIF users than for those who do not. This could imply frequent CMC users perceive more social closeness because of their familiarity with online social cues.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1110"],"dc:subject":["CMC","GIF","Perception","Social closeness","Linguistics"],"dc:title":["Overhearers’ perceptions of familiarity between interlocutors in computer-mediated communication based on GIF usage"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English Language and Literature"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:40Z"}