Capturing Image–Text Modal Relations in Mobile Instant Messaging Through WhatsApp Diaries

Abstract

Polymedia chat applications such as WhatsApp are facilitating ‘mixed-media’ relationships (Parks, 2017, Communication Research, 4, 505) as they have penetrated our everyday mediated interactions. This has led to calls for a deeper probe into the interconnections of the varied modes. After defining its vital term ‘mode’, the current study focuses on two widely used modes—image and text—in everyday mediated interactions via chat applications. In order to study their interconnections, the study adopts Martinec’s (2005) image–text relation systems. The findings indicate two extreme range points of image–text interconnections in mediated chat app-based interactions. At one extreme point, images and texts seem to be repeating each other’s messages, and at another point, they seem to complement one another. The point where images and texts complement one another highlights the role of images, and the point seems to play evocative and facilitative roles.