Using email for social and domestic purposes: effectiveness in fulfillment of interpersonal communication motives

While computer mediated communication (CMC) has been used in work and learning environments for many years, its widespread uptake in the domestic setting for social interaction is much more recent. By the time of this study (1999-2002) email had become an important medium for social communication for a significant proportion of the population. Email use in the UK can now, within certain groups of people, be regarded as approaching what Markus (1990) refers to as having the critical mass necessary for the technology’s acceptance. In order to understand the role of email in social interaction it needs to be examined along with established media such as telephone, fax, conventional mail (letter and cards sent through the post) and face-to-face (Zach 1994; Michailidis and Rada 1997; Frohlich et al, 1997; Hill and Monk, 2000).