Abstract
Scholarly research on computer-mediated communication discourse has mainly centred upon the linguistic characteristics of emails, focusing on the formal and informal features and the orality involved in this form of communication. This paper presents a new insight into the study of computer-mediated communication (CMC) by analysing a fairly recent genre of computer-mediated communication, comments posted on the new social networking websites. The research undertaken examines the comments published on the official Facebook sites of some universities to observe the level of formality/informality of online communication in English. The distinction between online writings by native and non-native speakers of English has been considered as well. The study focuses on the formulae of etiquette and protocol used for salutation, opening, pre-closing and closing as an indicator of the degree of orality and informality in online writing. Data reveal that, in the specific context of the university, the use of Facebook is not conventionalised, as the comments posted on Facebook present important stylistic variations. Moreover, in most instances non-native speakers of English display more formal traits than native speakers when communicating electronically on social networking sites in the academic world.
Highlights
In the last few years, information and communication technologies have evolved rapidly and have created new forms of literacies
Focusing on this specific context, the development of social networking and its increasing importance in the academic world creates the need for scholarly research on the issue
The results of this research show that in the comments of native speakers on Facebook, participants use either a very informal greeting element or no greeting formulae, the absence of greetings is a frequent strategy in 20% of the cases studied
Summary
In the last few years, information and communication technologies have evolved rapidly and have created new forms of literacies. The incorporation of the new electronic genres to the academic world has affected the use of established traditional communication exchange media in university organisations. Computer-mediated interaction in the academic world has changed the way we write and the genres we create (cf Hyland/Hamp-Lyons 2002). Focusing on this specific context, the development of social networking and its increasing importance in the academic world creates the need for scholarly research on the issue. As will be detailed below, Facebook is used as a research context in order to determine whether a specific tool of this networking application, that of posting comments, is a conventionalised genre of computer-mediated communication, despite its relative novelty
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