Uncovering embarrassing moments in in-situ exposure of incoming mobile messages

Abstract

Mobile instant messengers serve as major interaction media for everyday chats. Contrary to the belief that a message is seen only by a designated receiver, it can be accidentally exposed to someone nearby and could result in embarrassing moments, for example, when the receiver is viewing pictures together with his friend upon the message arrival. To understand the significance of the problem and core factors that cause such embarrassments, we collected 961 in-situ responses from 14 participants upon the actual message arrival and analyzed them from the perspective of the receiver's situation. The results showed that 29% of message arrivals have the potential to cause embarrassment. We found out that the relationship with a message sender and a nearby person influences the effect of participants' perception about the message exposure.