What does media richness theory add to our understanding of social media communication? How do lean social media affect interpersonal communication?

What will be an ideal response?

- Media richness theory describes communication channels by the amount of verbal and nonverbal information that can be exchanged through a particular channel. For instance, when you communicate with someone in a face-to-face setting, you both have a full range of social cues available. All of these social cues are important to how you send, receive, and interpret messages.
- Some forms of social media can convey very little information about the identity of the sender. Often, this leaves people anonymous and leads to opportunities for horrible communication situations. With lean media, it is easier for people to manipulate, expand, and distort the identity that they present to others. The absence of rich social cues can make you feel safer and give you the courage to write a nasty anonymous letter to the editor of a newspaper, post a frank comment on someone's online blog, or write a scathing complaint about a company on Yelp.
- Aside from FaceTime and similar services, most social media can limit communication to words and sounds, and they lack critical cues related to touch and a true sense of a shared physical space.