An interactional view of social presence: Making the virtual other “real”

In IS research, social presence is generally defined as the perceived capacity of a communication medium to convey contextual cues normally available in face‐to‐face settings. However, theorizing social presence as a property of the technology has been challenged for decades. The objective of this paper is to develop a more contemporary, interactional view of social presence. To this end, this paper develops a new conceptualization of how participants form the sense that each other is present. We characterize the development of this sense as a skilful accomplishment that entails interactants' joint construction of each other as “real.” Viewing social presence as contingent on social practice, we seek to answer the following research question: “How is social presence accomplished in virtual environments?” To explicate how virtual others are perceived as becoming socially present, that is, emotionally and psychologically “real” to someone interacting with them, we draw from Goffman's work, particularly his concepts of involvement and involvement obligation. Detailing two examples of social interaction in the virtual world Second Life, our analysis highlights the key role that this moral obligation, intrinsic to everyday social interaction, plays in virtual others becoming perceived as psychoemotionally “there.” By outlining a model of how the sense of a virtual other as “real” is produced in and through social interaction, our work contributes a sociological perspective to the construct of social presence and underscores some of the material and social conditions necessary for users to perceive virtual others as present.