To or not to , that's the question !

I came across an interesting article from the New York Times this morning (Emoticons move to the business world) in which the spread of emoticons, those lovely smiley or non-smiley icons used in many an SMS or email, was discussed, especially their more recent spread to the business world.

Personally, even though my use of them is restricted to the most basic ones, I very much like emoticons and do not see them, as some do, as a sign of degeneration of language, a sign of lazyness or something else negative.

On the contrary, I think there are two reasons why emoticons are important: First, the Internet means that we use written language to a greater extent than before: Many a conversation that would have previously been oral has now moved to a written format, whether it is an SMS, an email, an instant message, or any other similar, Internet-enabled form of communication. Written communication has many advantages over oral communication, in particular its formality and its relative lack of ambiguity. But formality and lack of ambiguity are not always what is required in communication, especially not in early stages of relationship-building (be it in a private or business context), when a too formal and too straight approach can be off-putting and there typically is a need for a certain amount of informality and  ambiguity. Second, the Internet and the general trend to globalisation means we are now more often than not communicating across cultures and across languages. This means that the language we use in our written communication needs to be unambiguous and clear, as speakers of other languages or members of other cultures may not appreciate, or worse, misinterpret, any ambiguity introduced.

This is where, in my view, emoticons, come in very handy: They allow us walk this fine line between formality and informality, directness and ambiguity by using the power of written language for creating a communication that is as unambiguous and as formal as required in a business context. Yet, at the same time, in addition to the use of language, a well deliberated use of emoticons allows us to introduce some informality and lightheartedness into written communication. And, added benefits for all those who communicate across languages and cultures, due to the symbolic nature of emoticons, interpretation is clear and universal - bar some differences between use of emoticons in the Asian world, which are very interesting indeed and  need to be paid attention to.

So, what is your view ?  Are emoticons a good thing or should they be abandoned ?