As smartphones have become an integral part of the everyday life of many, we have seen a proliferation of private messaging groups in mobile apps such as WhatsApp. One characteristic of group messaging is the constant presence of multiple simultaneous lines of talk – even more so than in the dyadic mode. In this article, we explore the linguistic and technologically afforded practices of managing simultaneous lines of talk – topics, sequences, larger activities - in mobile group messaging. Specifically, we analyze (i) how new lines of talk are initiated next to already existing ones, (ii) how two prior messages are responded to consecutively, and (iii) how non-adjacent messages are responded to. Our data consist of Finnish instant group messaging, and the analysis was conducted using the Conversation Analytic method. Our study complements previous studies on the management of multiple lines of talk in mobile messaging, and more generally, multiactivity in social interaction. In particular, it presents new insights into how practices such as ‘and’-prefacing, action-labelling and platform-provided reply-marking are utilized for organizing parallel activities.

随着智能手机已成为许多人日常生活中不可或缺的一部分，我们已经看到诸如WhatsApp之类的移动应用程序中私人消息传递群组的激增。群组消息传递的一个特征是多个同时出现的通话线路持续不断地存在，甚至比双向模式中的通话线路更是如此。在本文中，我们探讨了在移动组消息传递中管理同时对话的话题，主题，顺序和较大活动的语言和技术上的实践。具体而言，我们分析（i）如何在新的通话旁接听新的通话，（ii）如何连续响应两个先前的消息，以及（iii）如何响应不相邻的消息。我们的数据包含芬兰即时群发消息，并且使用“会话分析”方法进行了分析。我们的研究是对先前有关移动消息中多条对话管理的更广泛研究的补充，更广泛地说，它是社交互动中的多活动管理的补充。尤其是，它提供了有关如何利用“和”开头，操作标签和平台提供的答复标记之类的实践来组织并行活动的新见解。