Emoticons and Email Etiquette

Email is a kind of communication tool that cannot be lack in people's life. Every people in the world have to communicate with each other and email takes a very important role in it. Without email, human's life will become less convenient and less efficiency. A lot of important information and message can be clearly write down and send to the receiver through email. Most of the people nowadays do have their own email account and they know how to use it.

                                  Emoticons (Source: Bestfreeicons.com)

Misuse of Email
However, sometimes email could bring unnecessary problems if the sender does not write the email in a proper way. A serious email can become a joke if sender does not state his emotional clearly in his email. Thus, Professor Fahlman invented emoticons in order to solve this problem. Besides that, the other common mistake was some of the people usually did not state their information completely in a single email and it could waste each other's time. Moreover, email sender should differentiate the formal and informal situation wisely. Problem often comes due to the lack of judgment in determine the nature of an email.

                                  Yahoo! Mail Interface (Source: Yahoo.com)

Email is still benefits to us
In my opinion, email does a great job in the role of communication, as everyone needs it. 'Combining the chattiness of the phone with the contemplative nature of old-fashioned letter writing, email is probably the most useful and far-reaching tool the net has to offer' (Mandeville 2005). I agree that the use of emoticon can make the things better and avoid those annoying problems, but people must clearly know when they can or cannot use the emoticons. A formal email should avoid using emoticon in order to create a serious mood. Emoticon can result a better relationship between sender and receiver because it can create a good atmosphere and reduce the awkward situation. 'Acronyms and emoticons have become the hieroglyphics of a hurried generation. They're informal, often clever, and they save time' (Martin 2002).



References:

• Mandeville, A 2005, Email - an introduction, The Internet, BBC, viewed 15 June 2010, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3764621>
• Martin, JA 2002, A guide to internet lingo and emoticons, Sci-Tech, Cable News Network LP, viewed 15 June 2010, <http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/04/02/emoticon.guide.idg/index.html>