Abstract
This paper investigated the effect of two factors on the impression produced by emoticons? 1) generation and 2) the perceived frequency of emails with emoticons received from those of the same generation. Experiments were conducted in which thirty-eight university students (14 male, 24 female, average age 20.3) and thirty-four adults in their 40's and 50's (17 male, 17 female) were asked to rate their impressions of certain e-mail messages. Participants were also asked how frequently they received messages with emoticons from close friends of the same generation. The results indicated a significant relationship between the frequency of emoticon emails received from close friends and the impression produced by the emoticons. However, so far as the reception frequency was high, no significant differences could be observed between the generations in terms of the impression produced by the emoticons. These results suggest that conversational styles which utilize emoticons have an important effect on the impression produced by the emoticons in each respective community.
