ParaSocial Interaction in the Context of OnLine Interactive Environments

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Para-Social Interaction in the Context of
On-Line Interactive Environments

• Ming Ong Wong
• David R Fortin
• University of Canterbury

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About 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

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Outline

• Whats PSI?
• Its Implications for Marketing
• PSI and On-Line Shopping
• A Conceptual Model of PSI
• Research Directions

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Whats 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.

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Whats 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)

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Origins and Applications

• First examined in context of TV in the sixties
• Applies to soap operas, sitcoms, news anchors
• Illusion of intimacy

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Star Trek, Original Series 1967-69
Jim
Spock
Scotty
Bones
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Jerry, Kramer, Elaine and George
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Whats PSI? Lit review
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Implications for Marketing
Purchasing Behaviour

PSI

• Rubin (1986) Zaklan (1990)
• Grant, Guthrie and Ball-Rokeach (1991)
• Skumanich and Kintsfather (1998)
• Stephens, Hill and Bergman (1996)

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PSI and On-Line Shopping

• Generating PSI via a Web Site
• a site with a personality
• features hosts to draw consumers
• interaction between visitors sites

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Online Examples

• Maytag Man
• Wingspan online banking
• Tide detergent
• Pillsbury Dough-Boy
• future Avatars (MediaLab and Microsoft Project)

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Maytag Washing Machines
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Avatar Research at Media Lab
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A 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)
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Presence of Persona and Vividness of the Site
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Person-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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Content-Interactivity

• User-generated Content
• Dynamic quality of the Content

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Moderators 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

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Significance 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?