Leaders Use Textual-based Cues (emoticons and humor) To Enhance Social Presence

Lowenthal, P. R. (2010). The evolution and influence of social presence theory on online learning. In Online education and adult learning: New frontiers for teaching practices, 124-139. doi:10.4018/9781605669847.ch010

Lowenthal’s article sought to shed more insight into the construct of social presence and its connection to online learning using the social presence theory. Targeting a general audience, the author conceptualizes social presence as the level of prominence in social media. He emphasizes that individuals can enhance their social presence by projecting their personalities into varying online discourse using textual-based cues such as emoticons and humor. From this perspective, it is easy to see how different social media leaders analyze and interpret the communication pulse in a given social media platform and use the knowledge obtained to influence the level of engagement of their followers. For instance, Donald Trump’s deliberate abuse of the exclamation point in his tweets is a strategic move to increase his social presence and relate with his followers on an emotional level. This article is helpful since one can use it to assess the social power of individuals based on their real-time engagement with their followers.    

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