Interesting research on how we interpret online language and communication.

PsyBlog | Psychology Blog: Frown and the Net Frowns With You, But Smile and You Smile Alone
according to a study which assessed the effects of smileys 🙂 and frownies 🙁 as I’m now calling them. Walther and D’Addario (2001) found that while smileys had no effect on the way a message was interpreted, frowns did reduce the positivity of positive messages. Overall, though, the effect of emoticons was relatively small.

Language and communication are constantly evolving. and as language and communication evolve, so do we. And, as technology affects the evolution of language and communication, so so it affects our evolution.

So, this relatively minor research finding is a harbinger of many more changes to come.