The concept of social presence originated with Short, Williams, and Christie's (1976) analysis of human communication via different media, where it was defined as the ‘degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and the consequent salience of the interpersonal relationships’ (p. 65). Later in their book (p. 73), Short, Williams, and Christie simplified this to ‘the degree to which [a communicant] is perceived as a real person’.

Definitions and interpretations of social presence have been given subsequently by researchers of online communication and online learning (see Kehrwald 2010 for a review). Gunawardena and Zittle's (1997) definition is: ‘the degree to which a person is perceived as “real” in mediated communication’ (p. 8), which is in line with Short, Williams, and Christie's (1976, p. 73) characterisation. Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) present a similar definition of social presence, as part of their community of inquiry model: ‘the ability of participants in the community of inquiry to project their personal characteristics into the community, thereby presenting themselves to others as “real people”’ (p. 89).

Text-based online communication environments can be considered as low in social presence (Cobb 2009), causing potential problems for participants. Keisler, Siegal, and McGuire (1984) suggested that the lack of social cues in text-based online environments could even lead to uninhibited hostile behaviour, called ‘flaming’. The suggestion was that this could be partly due to visual anonymity, leading to a feeling of reduced accountability.

Researchers of online learning have found associations between perceptions of social presence and satisfaction with the learning experience (Kim, Kwon, and Cho 2011; Richardson and Swan 2003). Social presence is important in online learning because many students need to feel a link with others if they are to share ideas, exchange views and work together. However, this does not mean that the focus is on social interaction, or ‘niceness’, at the expense of intellectual exchanges. As Garrison and Anderson (2003) point out,

social presence does not mean supporting a ‘pathological politeness’ where students will not be sceptical or critical of ideas expressed for fear that they might hurt somebody's feelings and damage a relationship. Social presence means creating a climate that supports and encourages probing questions, scepticism and the contribution of more explanatory ideas. (p. 50)

One factor that influences social presence is the medium of communication. Short, Williams, and Christie (1976) viewed the degree of social presence as a characteristic of a communication medium – or of the user's perception of that particular medium. From this point of view, a videoconference has the potential to offer higher social presence than a discussion forum because participants can hear each others’ voices and see each other. These visual and auditory aspects are characterised as cues which aid communication. This focus on the medium of communication is in line with Daft and Lengel's (1986) concept of media richness, which considers the potential effects of the different communication channels that a medium provides.

Subsequent research in educational contexts demonstrates that the behaviour and attitudes of the participants can make a significant contribution to the degree of social presence experienced. This research introduces the idea that participants in an online community can act to create or build social presence, for themselves and others. For example, Gunawardena and Zittle (1997) concluded that:

In spite of the characteristics of the medium, student perceptions of the social and human qualities of CMC [computer-mediated communication] will depend on the social presence created by the instructors/moderators and the online community. (p. 23)

Taking this idea further, Swan (2002) argued for an equilibrium model of social presence, where participants adopt styles of interaction which make up for the lack of communication cues. When using a medium which does not itself provide many cues to support communication, some learners use the content, style and timing of their interaction to increase social presence. However, this takes time, effort and sensitivity, so not all learners will do this. There is therefore a need for educators and social media designers to consider ways in which participants can be helped to create and experience social presence when learning and communicating online.

Short, Williams, and Christie's (1976) research on social presence was primarily concerned with the effect of visual and auditory cues in various types of real-time communication (for example, video-conferencing, audio-conferencing and face-to-face meetings). However, in a text-based medium such as a discussion forum, there are no auditory cues and typically very few visual cues to add a personal touch and distinguish one participant from another. Many practitioners of online communication have therefore advocated the use of personal profiles: self-descriptions created by participants, which can include a photograph. For example, Zimmer, Harris, and Muirhead (2000) advised:

setting up the community in a way that allows individuals to gain an understanding of who is addressing them in what can be an impersonal textual environment. This could include: photos, résumés and biographies and general introductions to the online group.

Kim (2000, p. 84) suggested that personal profiles can help to create trusting relationships in online communities by providing context. Barab et al. (2003) encouraged members of their Inquiry Learning Forum online community to create personal profiles, so that they could learn more about one another, decide who to communicate with, and understand each others’ perspectives more easily. Similarly Bonk et al. (2001, p. 81) asked students using their Smartweb system to write information, such as their hobbies and where they lived, into their student profile.

More recently, against the backdrop of widespread use of social network sites, the potential benefits of personal profiles have been revisited (Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe 2007). In an employment context, Skeels and Grubin (2009) highlighted the value of LinkedIn and Facebook profiles for building and maintaining relationships among colleagues. One participant in their study explained: ‘I get sort of a bird's eye view into their personal life and you know what their hobbies are or what their interests … and it actually helps me build rapport with them’ (p. 99). Discussing the educational use of the Ning social networking environment, Arnold and Paulus (2010) identified community-building as an unplanned benefit of the Ning profile page feature. They noted that ‘Profile pages allow posts and completed work to be connected to a person, not just a name, adding to a sense of community’ (p. 195). Lampe, Ellison, and Steinfield (2007), while acknowledging that ‘little is known about the specific effects user profiles have on interactions in online communities’, go on to say ‘Intuitively, we believe that profiles can help create a sense of presence’.

It is recommended practice to include a photograph in a personal profile. Nicol, Minty, and Sinclair (2003) described a system, where ‘each online contribution is accompanied by a digitized thumbnail picture of the sender in order to personalize contributions with a social reference’ (p. 273). The forums in the Moodle virtual learning environment adopt this approach, with messages including a photo or image representing the sender (see Figure 1). Clicking on the user's name then takes you to their profile (Figure 2).

However, researchers have found negative, as well as positive, effects from personal profiles and photos. Cress (2005) found that personal profiles (consisting of photos and short descriptions) had a positive effect on group interaction for some members of online groups (those who were more individually oriented) and a negative effect for others (those who were more group-oriented). Tanis and Postmes (2007) found that member photos and names had a negative effect on participants’ satisfaction with the online interactions. Walther, Slovacek, and Tidwell (2001) found that member photos had a positive effect for newly formed groups of learners who were working together for a short time, but a negative effect for groups working on a more long-term basis. In all these studies, the researchers suggested that personal profiles can reduce some participants’ sense of solidarity.

Concerns have also been expressed in relation to privacy and the risks of inappropriate disclosure of personal information and images, particularly in profiles on social network sites (Berlanga et al. 2011; Madden 2012; Peluchette and Karl 2009). A related issue is the need for participants to maintain boundaries between social life and professional or academic roles (Skeels and Grudin 2009). It is clear that, although many educators have advocated the use of personal profiles for enhancing social presence, further research is needed on whether students find profiles helpful for this purpose.

This study investigated possibilities for using personal profiles to enhance students’ sense of social presence. It was based on earlier findings from interviews with distance learners who used the FirstClass online communication system as part of their studies (Kear 2003). In these interviews, a number of students specifically mentioned the value of personal profiles – which are called ‘résumés’ in FirstClass. One student said she was ‘disappointed if someone hasn't got one’ and other students expressed a wish that more participants would use the résumé feature. The view was that this would help them get to know each other, and would therefore ease communication.

A few years later an opportunity arose to follow up these findings. A personal profile facility was implemented in a prototype online communication system (offering forums and instant messaging) for use in a 12-week, 100-hour distance learning module on web technologies (Kear 2007). The profile facility was described as a résumé because this term was familiar to students from their use of FirstClass. When a user first logged into the system they were prompted to enter some information into their résumé. The only obligatory item was the user's first name; their email address was shown if they chose to make it public. There was also a facility for adding a photograph or image.

Once a user had added information to their résumé, a small icon representing a face was displayed next to their name at the top of each message they posted. Other users could click on this icon to view the résumé. Clickable résumé icons were also displayed against users’ names in a window that showed which users were logged into the system, and enabled contact with them via instant messaging. A search facility was provided so that resumes could be found which matched a name or keyword.

Since Study 1 was carried out, there has been a considerable increase in the use of social networking sites. As these sites are based around extensive personal profiles, this could encourage students to make more use of personal profiles in online learning environments. To investigate this, in 2011 a small scale study was initiated to look at Open University students’ use of profiles in the Moodle virtual learning environment (VLE).

Moodle provides a personal profile facility which enables forum participants to add information about themselves, and to upload a photo or image. This image is shown beside each of the participant's forum postings. If a participant does not add an image, the Moodle default of a silhouetted head is used instead. The personal profile itself is accessible by clicking on the participant's name, which is shown against each of their postings (see Figure 1).

The study was overseen and funded by the Open University's eSTEeM initiative for scholarship in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The context for the study was a new first year Open University module on Computing and Information Technology, called My Digital Life. This is a 600-hour module, studied part-time over 9 months.