Social psychology of interactivity in human-website interaction

This article discusses interactivity as a modality feature, source feature, and message feature. It argues that the ultimate effect of interactivity does not lie so much in its function as a peripheral cue in the message context, but as a technological feature that boosts social-psychological effects of content by creating greater user engagement with it. Interactivity can manifest itself by extending the range and functionality of all three basic elements of mediated communication - source, modality, message - and, through theoretical mechanisms involving concepts such as perceptual bandwidth, customization, and contingency, it can determine the manner in which content is psychologically processed by users.