Marije Kanis, Mark Perry, Willem-Paul Brinkman. minimal connectedness: exploring the effects of positive messaging using mobile technology. In Mary Czerwinski, Arnold M. Lund, Desney S. Tan, editors, Extended Abstracts Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2008, Florence, Italy, April 5-10, 2008. pages 2513-2522, ACM, 2008. [doi]
This paper describes a lightweight mobile technology designed to investigate the potential of positive messaging. We introduce the concept of minimal connectedness and examine how this form of connectivity supports and gives rise to user’s positive affect. To explore this idea, a mobile application called PosiPost Me was developed, allowing users to randomly share positive messages. We present a study of the ways in which it was used and understood. As well as encouraging positive thoughts, analysis shows how the form of minimal social connectedness afforded by the application is marked by its minimal social obligation, curiosity and ambiguity.