De-emphasizing Content to Study the Relationship between Meaning, Messages, and Content in IM Systems

The design of most instant messaging (IM) tools focuses on exchanging content as the meaning and process of communication, a convention that equates content with meaning in a way counter to modern theories of interpersonal communication. We critique these conventions in designing a mobile messaging application, BubbleQ, which de-emphasizes message content and defamiliarizes interaction flows by forbidding users to send content directly. Instead, users send empty \"bubbles\", blank messages that recipients can fill and return to the sender. Messages are also presented not as per-user threads, but as an aggregation of bubbles across all conversational partners; they are also given a physical form to interact with to further violate common IM design conventions. Interviews with 28 college students who used BubbleQ for two weeks show that these design twists made room for negotiating other meanings, supported playful, mundane interaction, and provided resources for deepening relationships. Further, the aggregate bubbles view led people to reflect holistically on interactions. Together, these findings suggest that IM designers should spend more time addressing the meanings, embodiments, embedding, and cost of messages.