When corresponding with someone for the first time, it’s best to err on the side of formality. Personal Instagram captions, tweets, DMs and text messages to those in your social circle often use more informal conventions, while academic papers, professional emails, and correspondence with coworkers and faculty take on a more formal tone. Knowing what you’re writing and to whom you’re writing it will determine the register of speech you might use in online writing. Generally, we don’t put the same amount of time into composing a text to a friend as we would when writing a research proposal for a senior thesis. Here are three of my takeaways from the book which may help you communicate effectively on the World Wide Web! 1. She analyzes the development of linguistic norms in internet culture. Internet Linguist Gretchen McCulloch has dived head first into the study of internet speak in her book Because Internet. Now, even visual non-textual elements affect the reader’s interpretation of online text (note the difference between “Wow!” and my previous use of “✨wow✨”). This flood of casual writing has shaped the conventions of online writing into a language understood independently of verbal communication. Words on the internet aren’t always measured and formal, but often show up as informal captions, tweets, posts, comments and text messages sent back and forth in quick succession.

The internet is a source of entertainment, information, income, recreation, and expression-and we spend a lot of our online time reading text. I can confidently state this about you, the reader, because you’re reading this piece on the internet (✨wow✨)! More than ever, during this past year, it has become apparent just how reliant we are on the internet as students, academics, researchers, artists, writers, workers, and even friends. If we’re being honest (and I hope we are), the internet plays a large role in our lives.

Text to speech goofy