PuppetChat: Fostering Intimate Communication through Bidirectional Actions and Micronarratives

2026-02-22

AI Summary

This study addresses the limitations of existing instant messaging tools in supporting deep interaction within intimate relationships, particularly their lack of emotional continuity, bidirectional responsiveness, and personalized memory linkage. To overcome these challenges, the authors propose and implement a dyadic chat prototype that innovatively integrates embodied interaction, a reciprocity-aware recommendation algorithm, and micro-narrative generation grounded in shared experiences to create a contextualized and personalized two-way communication experience. A 10-day field study demonstrates that the system significantly enhances social presence, facilitates more expressive self-disclosure, and effectively strengthens conversational continuity and the maintenance of shared memories between partners.

Technology Category

• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Conversational Systems for Recommendation & Retrieval
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction
• Multiagent Systems: Agent Communication

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Assisted, interactive, and conversational search
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Decentralized Web and Fediverse systems

Abstract

As a primary channel for sustaining modern intimate relationships, instant messaging facilitates frequent connection across distances. However, today's tools often dilute care; they favor single tap reactions and vague emojis that do not support two way action responses, do not preserve the feeling that the exchange keeps going without breaking, and are weakly tied to who we are and what we share. To address this challenge, we present PuppetChat, a dyadic messaging prototype that restores this expressive depth through embodied interaction. PuppetChat uses a reciprocity aware recommender to encourage responsive actions and generates personalized micronarratives from user stories to ground interactions in personal history. Our 10-day field study with 11 dyads of close partners or friends revealed that this approach enhanced social presence, supported more expressive self disclosure, and sustained continuity and shared memories.

Problem

• intimate communication
• instant messaging
• social presence
• expressive interaction
• shared memories

Innovation

• reciprocity-aware recommender
• micronarratives
• embodied interaction
• social presence
• dyadic messaging