Online spaces that enable shared public interpersonal communications are of significant social, organizational, and economic importance. In this paper, a theoretical model and associated unobtrusive method are proposed for researching the relationship between online spaces and the behavior they host. The model focuses on the collective impact that individual information-overload coping strategies have on the dynamics of open, interactive public online group discourse. Empirical research was undertaken to assess the validity of both the method and the model, based on the analysis of over 2.65 million postings to 600 Usenet newsgroups over a 6-month period. Our findings support the assertion that individual strategies for coping with “information overload” have an observable impact on large-scale online group discourse. Evidence was found for the hypotheses that: (1) users are more likely to respond to simpler messages in overloaded mass interaction; (2) users are more likely to end active participation as the overloading of mass interaction increases; and (3) users are more likely to generate simpler responses as the overloading of mass interaction grows. The theoretical model outlined offers insight into aspects of computer-mediated communication tool usability, technology design, and provides a road map for future empirical research.

What makes computer‐mediated groups tick and/or stick? To what degree are computer‐mediated discussants really sustained “groups”? Does the grouping quality reflect anything beyond technical structure? Are technical structure and grouping related? How do threads define groups, or vice‐versa? Does any of this change between academic and commercial networks?

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NewhagenWhy should communication researchers study the Internet? RafaeliTo answer your question, we need a shorthand map of communication-related phenomena the Net represents. One could begin by saying that the Net is new, loaded with content, crowded, and seemingly a great business prospect. All four conditions are true. The Net and modes of communicating on and through it are a novelty, and the newness seems to be reborn all the time. New gadgets, new gimmicks every day. Content of all sorts abounds, from pornography to timely news, from scientific journals to mass entertainment to high-brow culture, and from the very public to the very intimate. All forms of content are congregating on line. So are people. The rates of growth, conservatively estimated at over 5% a month several years going, are astounding. Big business, as well as garden variety entrepreneurs, are not blind to this. None of these-novelty, volume, head counts, or prospects of future profits-are distinct communication phenomena, nor do they serve to set the Net apart from communication as we have known it. Instead, we should search for the communication dimensions in our inquiry, with an eye to finding less ephemeral, more robust concepts. Those, I believe, are the things we would want to study.the Net: multimedia, hypertextuality, packet switching, synchronicity, and interactivity. These qualities capture what is, or can be, different about Netbased communication. None of these qualities are necessarily realized by any one instance of behavior or application on the Net, and none of these qualities is necessarily good or bad, nor by the Net. However, Net-based communication highlights these dimensions.Therefore, I propose focusing on five defining qualities of communication on