Sequential patterns in SMS and WhatsApp dialogues: Practices for coordinating actions and managing topics

Abstract

In computer-mediated communication, users cannot ensure that responsive postings are placed in a directly adjacent position. Yet, paired actions are discernible in which a first pair part (FPP) makes a second pair part (SPP) conditionally relevant. While previous studies of short messaging service (SMS) communication show that users usually send clusters of FPPs and that SPPs are ordered in the same chronology, little is known about sequential practices of dealing with multiple FPPs in text-based WhatsApp communication. This article shows that in German WhatsApp dialogues, users apply a chronological as well as a reversed ordering of SPPs. It is argued that this result can only be partly attributed to the affordances of the mobile messenger. Rather, users arrange SPPs in order to foreground particular topics in extended, chat-like dialogues.