Seeking Support Online: How Anonymity, Visibility, and Relationship Closeness Shape Support-Seeking Messages

Abstract: The affordances of online channels can influence communication, and communicators sometimes value affordances differently in different relationships. This study examines how two affordances, anonymity and visibility, combine with relationship closeness to shape how people seek support online. Participants (N = 171) composed a support-seeking message they imagined sending to various audiences in one of several online channels. Participants and outside observers rated the breadth, depth, and emotional content of the messages. The results suggest relationship closeness was negatively associated with perceived anonymity and perceived visibility. Greater anonymity corresponded with higher observed depth in support-seeking messages and greater visibility corresponded with higher self-reported emotional content. Furthermore, each affordance was positively associated with the observed emotional content of messages at low levels of closeness, and anonymity shared a negative association with the self-reported depth of messages only when visibility was low and closeness was high. Findings suggest that the content of support-seeking messages hinges, in part, on affordances and relationship characteristics.