hapticity

Researchers at the University of Chicago are studying how people express social context in emails through the use of emoticons, subject lines, and signatures. Their findings, published in the American Journal of Sociology, indicate that people must develop new communication strategies to write emails. “People can cultivate ways of communicating in online contexts that are equally as effective as those used offline,” write the researchers. “The degree to which individuals develop unique conventions in the medium will determine their ability to communicate effectively.”

(via Science Daily)