Spinning interactional plates: Managing multicommunication behind the screen of Facebook

Abstract

Multicommunication is a form of multitasking that involves engaging in two or more interactional activities simultaneously. Technological features of mediated communication make multicommunication more practical, yet it is questioned whether the quality of our interactions is upheld when interpersonal engagement is split. This paper addresses this concern by asking whether interactional techniques are employed by multicommunicators in the context of Facebook and what this means for the quality of our online interactions. Building on previous multicommunication research, this paper examines how multicommunication is managed behind the screen: that is, how interlocutors move between overlapping conversations rather than the organisation within conversations themselves. In doing this, this paper extends the Goffmanian concept of ‘participatory roles’, arguing that multicommunicators adopt the role of a ‘manager’ to move between numerous conversation threads. Through presenting screen capture data of Facebook Messenger interactions, and drawing on micro analytic methods, it is revealed how Facebook users work to simplify their interactions when multicommunicating whilst simultaneously preserving interactional complexity.