We propose a conceptual as well as practical distinction, possible in voice mail systems, betweenthe traditional telephone genre of voice answering and a new genre of telephone communication
of voice messaging. This distinction should be reflected in comments provided by respondents
who report that they use voice mail more for messaging than for answering, and by those who
send more voice messages than do others. Semantic network analysis identified different
clusters of concepts found in responses to open-ended questions on a survey completed by these
kinds of users. For example, all users had common word clusters concerning the ability to
overcome temporal constraints and leave messages through voice mail. However, responses of
"senders" and "messagers" included word clusters such as "group distribution" and greater
concern with issues such as critical mass and problems of traditional telephone usage (such
as busy signals), while responses of low senders and answerers included clusters indicating
concern about the impersonal nature of voice mail. We discuss implications both for this
method of analysis as well as for implementation and management of voice mail systems.
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