Relation of statement length and type and type of chat room to reciprocal communication on the Internet

This study examined the relation of statement type (neutral, questioning, p rovocative, or bizarre) and length of statement (short vs. long) to recipro cal conversation in Internet chat rooms. The results indicated that provoca tive statements had a significant impact on reciprocal communication in two out of three different types of Internet chat rooms. These findings suppor t the hypothesis that the amount of reciprocal communication in a chat room is directly related to the type of statements made by the participants. Th e results also suggest that the type of statement that elicits the greatest reciprocal communication may vary with the type of chat room.