Expressing Emotions In E-mail So As Not To Be Misinterpreted

study how we use emoticons, subject lines, and signatures to define how we want to be interpreted in email. The authors find that "a shift to email interaction requires a new set of interactional skills to be developed."

Unlike face-to-face conversations, email interactions leave out tone of voice, body-language and context, which can lead to misunderstandings

no way of communicating is actually superior to another

each require a set of distinct interaction strategies

Capital letters, use of quotations, emoticons, exclamation points, punctuation, bullet points, style and even color help the sender communicate the meaning of a word or message

Participants also maintained their conversational flow by cutting and pasting from previous emails and using subject lines that referenced previous discussions

Signatures, disclaimers and other information about the person's state of mind were also commonly used when writing an email