emoticons concernemoticons concern

The very nature of
communicating on the Internet
allows people to express
thoughts and feelings with an
openness and frankness unusual
in face to face or phone conversations. The trouble is
that on-line conversations are
really a cross between a letter
and a phone call. The potential
for misunderstandings, without
the tone and expression of a voice, or signals given out by
body language, are considerable.
Email, newsgroups, Facebook,
MSN - all rely on the written
word - and the written word is
so easy to misinterpret (ask lawyer$!). As a result of this, a shorthand
version of expressing moods has
emerged on the Net and
together with certain
behavioural rules form
netiquette. Originally the shorthand for moods uses
standard (QWERTY) keyboard
symbols and they are known as
emoticons aka 'smileys'. In recent
years as computing and network
power has increased these have become pictures, although we
still think the originals have a
certain charm:-)