Title: ParaSocial Interaction in the Context of OnLine Interactive Environments
1Para-Social Interaction in the Context of
On-Line Interactive Environments
- Ming Ong Wong
- David R Fortin
- University of Canterbury
2About the Authors
www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/weblab
- Ming Wong is a doctoral student at the
University of Canterbury, N-Z - David is Senior Lecturer at the University of
Canterbury, New Zealand and director of the
Web-L_at_b Consumer Research Project
3Outline
- Whats PSI?
- Its Implications for Marketing
- PSI and On-Line Shopping
- A Conceptual Model of PSI
- Research Directions
4Whats PSI
- Parasocial phenomena can be defined as the
vicarious interaction and relationship that the
viewers of media have with media characters. - The concept was first introduced by Horton and
Wohl in 1956.
5Whats PSI
- A form of social interaction created by the mass
media, which is based on the frequent and
consistent appreance of a persona or mediated
personality - (Rubin, Perse and Powell 1985)
6Origins and Applications
- First examined in context of TV in the sixties
- Applies to soap operas, sitcoms, news anchors
- Illusion of intimacy
7Star Trek, Original Series 1967-69
Jim
Spock
Scotty
Bones
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9Jerry, Kramer, Elaine and George
10Whats PSI? Lit review
11Implications for Marketing
Purchasing Behaviour
PSI
- Rubin (1986) Zaklan (1990)
- Grant, Guthrie and Ball-Rokeach (1991)
- Skumanich and Kintsfather (1998)
- Stephens, Hill and Bergman (1996)
12PSI and On-Line Shopping
- Generating PSI via a Web Site
- a site with a personality
- features hosts to draw consumers
- interaction between visitors sites
13Online Examples
- Maytag Man
- Wingspan online banking
- Tide detergent
- Pillsbury Dough-Boy
- future Avatars (MediaLab and Microsoft Project)
14Maytag Washing Machines
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19Avatar Research at Media Lab
20A Concepual Model of PSI in On-Line Environments
Presence of Persona
Motive to Seek Interaction
Future Anticipation
Vividness of the Site
Asite
Person Interactivity (User-Persona)
Para-Social Interaction (with the site)
Person Interactivity (User-User)
Abrand
Content Interactivity (User-Generated)
Purchase Intention
Enduring Product Involvement
Content Interactivity (Dynamic)
21Presence of Persona and Vividness of the Site
22Person-Interactivity
- User-to-Persona see Microsoft Persona Project
www.research.microsoft.com/research/ui/persona/hom
e.htm - User-to-User
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26Content-Interactivity
- User-generated Content
- Dynamic quality of the Content
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29Moderators Motive and Involvement
- The positive relationship between the antecedent
variables and PSI - will become stronger or weaker depending on the
type of motive for seeking interaction - will become stronger with increasing levels of
involvement
30Significance of the Model
- Theoretical
- Understanding of the phenomenon of PSI on the WWW
- Managerial
- Design of an effective web interface
- Another form of relationship marketing?
- Future Research?