How Mobile Instant Messaging Changes Relationships in the Marketplace

The ubiquity of mobile instant messaging, that has made constant communication the norm, has given the 'absent other' a cognitive presence. As a result, the 'absent other' receives constant and conscious attention. 

(Wood, Kemp, and Plester, 2014)

Mobile instant messaging (MIM) is the preferred medium of communication for smartphone users. Just think about the last five times you used your smartphone, what did you use it for? Our phones are with us everywhere and communications via IM take place constantly and seamlessly along with other daily activities; while reading, watching TV, in a meeting, driving (shame on you), eating, in class, in line at the grocery store and you name it. The person or people we are chatting with might be a thousand kilometers away, but constant communication with them makes them feel present to us; while not physically present, they are cognitively present. Their cognitive presence means that we constantly think about and engage with them. They have our constant attention.

Imagine the impact this phenomenon has on human relationships. "Out of sight, out of mind"; this is no longer applicable. It is reasonable to extrapolate that face-to-face relationships are strengthened by mobile chat; and that virtual relationships may grow stronger at the expense of face-to-face relationships (of course, this assertion needs empirical research). There are 2 types of relationships that are of special interest to me as a researcher, relationships in a classroom environment and relationships in the marketplace. My classroom research (Lee, 2014) confirms the assertion that face-to-face relationships in the classroom are strengthened by mobile chat. If applied to relationships in the marketplace, buyer-seller relationships that are built on MIM will be stronger than traditional face-to-face buyer-seller relationships (the customer and salesperson in a shop, customer service over the phone or email, etc). In this type of MIM-ameliorated relationship, the buyer has the seller's constant attention, as the seller has the buyer's constant attention. Win-win on both sides.

Tell me your opinion: Does mobile chat improve the buyer-seller relationship? How? 

Reference:

Wood, C., Kemp, N., and Plester, B. (2014). Text messaging and literacy--The evidence. Routledge: Oxon, United Kingdom. 

Lee, S. (2014). Mobile instant messaging (MIM) and student engagement in an EFL context. Publication in process.