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Language Use in Online
Communication // (Micro-)
Celebrity in Social Media
Emily Goldner
EMC / CMC
 Electronically Mediated Communication are the linguistic
messages conveyed through online and mobile media
 Computer-mediated Communication was used to refer to
written messages sent via email, IM, or blogs
 Now that a lot of written messaging is done on phones, the
two terms are somewhat interchangeable. However, EMC is
the general term used the most.
Linguistic Characteristics of EMC
 Abbreviations such as “K”, “LOL”, “bc” have evolved. First, because IM’s were limited to a
certain number of characters and also because on mobile phones it is more difficult to
type compared to on a computer
 However, a study from the early 2000’s showed that EMC contained fewer distinctive linguistic
characteristics then most people thought
 “Subjects were more than twice as likely to use question marks that are ‘required’… than
to use ‘required’ periods or exclamation marks. This strategy makes linguistic sense in that
question marks carry more discourse information than periods or exclamation marks.”
 Gender in EMC: females tend to end with something conveying emotion, whether that be
an emoji or an exclamation mark
 Males usually willl just end texts with a period or no punctuation, and are typically using texts less
for conversation and more for converying info
Micro-Celebrities
 Micro-Celebrities use the forms of media accessible to them daily to post things and gain
a small, but loyal following
 They use social media platforms such as youtube, tumblr, and instagram to post things
about themselves or create a persona that other people relate to
 Become celebrities through means other then broadcasting, TV/Film, or sports
Connection
 Although Micro-Celebrities (and every day users of media) might not notice, they are
always using EMC
 By captioning pictures on instagram or tumblr, responding to comments made by fans, or
tweeting, a form of EMC is always being used
 Although Micro-Celebrities are thought to be authentic, they are still trying to portray a
specific image, and the style in which they write things on different forms of media are
usually specific to that person
 “Micro-celebrity, in other words, is something one does rather than something one is, it
typically involves self-conscious, carefully constructed personas, which may be primarily
textual, visual, or video…”
 Language use in online communication will vary from media platform to platform, but is always a
form of language being used by micro-celebrities
A few Questions
 There is a common argument about EMC regarding it’s common poor use of grammar,
spelling, and abbreviations. Do you think that EMC is a ’bad’ form of language?
 Would you consider EMC to be a ”a form of informal speech ‘written down’” or another
form of traditional writing?