Table 1.

Definitions of social presence

Authors	Definition
Abdullah (2004)	“a sense that online users have of the communicators being ‘real’ interlocutors with personalities and physical presence […]. In other words, an interlocutor’s [social presence] is like the impression one would have of him or her if that interlocutor were physically present in the communication” (p. 3)
Arbaugh et al. (2008)	“the ability of participants to identify with the community (e.g., course of study), communicate purposefully in a trusting environment, and develop inter-personal relationships by way of projecting their individual personalities” (p.134)
Belderrain (2006)	“the degree to which individuals perceive intimacy, immediacy, and their particular role in a relationship” (p. 149)
Biocca et al. (2001a)	“the moment-by-moment awareness of the co-presence of another sentient being accompanied by a sense of engagement with the other (i.e., human, animate, or artificial being)”
Garrison (2009)	“the ability of participants to identify with the community (e.g., course or study), communicate purposefully in a trusting environment, and develop interpersonal relationships by way of projecting their individual personalities” (p. 352)
Garrison et al. (2000)	“the ability of participants in a community of inquiry to project themselves socially and emotionally, as ‘real’ people (i.e., their full personality), through the medium of communication being used” (p. 94)
Gunawardena (1995)	“the degree to which a person is perceived as a ‘real person’ in mediated communication” (p. 151). “[t]he ability to project one’s identity” (p. 163).
Gunawardena and Zittle (1997)	“the degree to which a person is perceived as ‘real’ in mediated communication” (p. 8)
Hassanein and Head (2007)	“where the medium gives the user a sense of human warmth and sociability” (p. 690)
Jung et al. (2002)	“interaction between learners and instructors that occurs when instructors adopt strategies to promote interpersonal encouragement and social integration” (p. 153)
Kang et al. (2007)	“perceived depth of relationships with other learners and the community during e-learning.” (p. 2)
Kim (2011)	“the specific awareness of relations among the members in a mediated communication environment and the degree of proximity and affiliation formed through it” (p. 766)
Kozan and Richardson (2014)	“the degree to which participants feel affectively connected to one another” (p. 69)
Moreno and Mayer (2004)	“[a] feeling of being with and interacting with another social being” (p. 166)
Picciano (2002)	“a student’s sense of being in and belonging in a course and the ability to interact with other students and an instructor” (p. 22)
Ogara et al. (2014)	“the degree along some definable continuum of unsociable—sociable, insensitive—sensitive, cold—warm, and impersonal—personal” (p. 455).
Remesal and Colomina (2013)	“the result of constructive and evolutionary discursive group interaction which promotes the creation of a community feeling, the maintenance of positive relational dynamics, and the enhancement of self- and collective efficacy in front of the learning task, in such a way that the learning process is supported” (p. 258)
Russo (2000)	the degree to which a person is perceived to be ‘real’ in a technology mediated environment
Short et al. (1976)	“degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and the consequent salience of the interpersonal relationship” (p. 65)
Sung and Mayer (2012)	“the subjective feeling of being connected and together with others during computer mediated communication” (p. 1739)
Swan and Shih (2005)	“the degree to which participants in computer-mediated communication feel affectively connected one to another” (p. 115)
Whiteside (2017)	“a critical literacy for cultivating emotions and relationships, which ‘serves an influential role in advancing and sustaining successful, meaningful learning experiences’” (p.133)
Sallnäs (2005)	“the feeling that one is present with another person in a mediated environment.” (p. 438)
Shin (2013)	“a feeling of being in the company of someone and the perceptual illusion of nonmediation” (p. 941)
Tu (2002a)	“Social presence is the degree of person-to-person awareness, which occurs in the computer environment” (p. 34).
Tu and McIsaac (2002)	“[t]he degree of feeling, perception and reaction of being connected to other intellectual entities in online classrooms” (p.146)
Walther (1992)	“the degree to which users can feel others’ presence in the result of interpersonal interactions during the communication process” (p. 54).
Yen and Tu (2008)	“the degree of feeling, perception, and reaction of being connected by computer-mediated communication (CMC) to another intellectual entity through electronic media” (p.297)