Abstract
This study examined the effect of emoticons within a received text message on emoticons within a reply. The task included a text message in which a fictitious character invites the participant to an event. We manipulated the text massage, using text messages with and without punctuation marks, and with and without emoticons. Participants replied to each of the messages on a questionnaire, as they would in an e-mail on their mobile or smart phone. The results showed that when punctuation marks were used in the received message, the reply also included many punctuation marks, but not many emoticons. Likewise, when emoticons were used in the message, many emoticons were used in the reply, but not many punctuation marks. These results indicate that people distinguish between punctuation marks and emoticons, and imitate the text-based communication behavior of the other. We discussed this synchronization in terms of the development of capacity of recipient design, and computer-mediated communication education.
