Playfulness in mobile instant messaging: Examining the influence of emoticons and text messaging on social interaction

Mobile instant messaging is the communication technology revolution that is changing the way people communicate. The adoption rate is surging and the massive growth is experienced worldwide. Prior studies on instant messaging have been primarily concerned with its task-relevant or functional aspects, while less attention is paid to social interaction aspects. Drawing from media richness theory, present research highlights that social interaction factors can be facilitated by an enriched communication channel to create closer interpersonal social relationships. Specifically, the findings illustrate that the combined effect of text messaging and emoticon use increases information richness, which leads to perceived playfulness in mobile instant messaging. In addition, the perceived playfulness fostered in the instant messaging process plays a driving role in facilitating social connectedness, identity expressiveness between users and advocacy of mobile instant messaging usage.