Computer-mediated communication for teenage students: a content analysis of a student messaging system

This paper documents an exploratory study investigating the patterns of communication and the contents of the messages of an electronic messaging system set up specifically for teenage students in Hong Kong. The results of this investigation suggest that this undirected and unco- ordinated public messaging network was used both for socializing and information exchange. There was in general a lack of in-depth communication and the network users were not keen to involve themselves in serious discussions. It is suggested that a co- ordinator is needed to facilitate in-depth and task-specific discussions in a public messaging system