Emoticons and Email Ettiquette

Summary of the transcript

In the past, people are not able to interpret the emotions of the writers in an email and also the purpose of writing an email. Therefore, Professor Fahlman had suggested and decided to create emoticons by putting a smiley face at the end when they made a joke online.

Professor Fahlman is the first one who uses the smile face emoticon when writing an online message. (Source: Bangkok post 2007)

The emoticons that created by Professor Fahlman decades ago has been transformed from text such as a colon, a hyphen and then parenthesis to the fairly yellow graphical with animation by software. People around the world are using emotions nowadays when writing an email, text messages and online conversation (Abc.net.au 2007). According to Schriver (1997, p.403), ‘it is a good idea to pair icons and labels which is to double signal an idea by giving the reader multiple ways to represent the same idea .’

These are the emoticons using by people nowadays that transformed from the emoticons created by Professor Fahlman. (Source: Culture visuelle 2010)

Good and poor email etiquette

Good email etiquettes can assist people to avoid mistakes and misunderstandings when writing an email as well as helping people to communicate better via email. According to a market research done by Radicati Group (Uebergang 2008), there are 1.2 billion email users in 2007 will increase to 1.6 billion in 2011, an estimate of 1.44 billion people will be untrained in email by 2011. Since there are billions of people writing and sending email nowadays, it is important for writer to follow the email etiquette rules to enhance the communication technique via email. According to Griffith University (2009), there are some examples of email etiquette rules such as

• Make the Subject line summarise the body of the email
• Keep messages brief and to the point
• Don’t use all capital letters or oversized fonts as its indicating shouting or threatening
• Avoid angry outbursts
• Correct punctuate and grammar
• Acronyms, abbreviations, and emoticons are OK within reason as long as don’t overdo it. Emoticons (for example ;-) a winking smiley face) are good when used in context.

However, poor email etiquette is demonstrating lack of knowledge of the writer and it will also cause stress for the sender as well as the recipients. Below are the examples of poor email etiquette (Scoot 2008):

• People trying to solve complex issues using email instead of calling
• Last-minute cancellations a meeting or gathering via email
• Procrastinators
• No response when a legitimate email message sends to someone who has requested information

Conclusion

In my opinion, people should not underestimate the power of a high-quality email as it is an effective communication tool to show your professionalism and help you be persuasive and inoffensive. People should also bear in mind the audience expectations and the important of email etiquette when writing an email.

Reference List

Abc.net.au 2007, Emotions and email ettiquette, 18 October 2007, viewed 8 June 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2064342.htm

Cit.griffith.edu.au 2009, Email Etiquette (Netiquette), Griffith University, viewed 9 June 2010, http://www.cit.griffith.edu.au/~davidt/email_etiquette.htm

Schriver, KA 1997, ‘Chapter 6: The interplay of words and pictures’, in Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub., New York, pp. 403-404.

Scoot, E 2008, 27 Email pet peeves that stress out your recipients, viewed 9 June 2010, http://stress.about.com/od/officepolitics/a/emailpeeves.htm

Uebergang, J 2008, 16 Email mistakes you must avoid: Email Etiquette, viewed 9 June 2010, http://www.towerofpower.com.au/16-email-mistakes-you-must-avoid-email-etiquette