Section 20.6 Digital Communication
Digital communication has not replaced the formal/informal distinction—it has multiplied it. A single person might, within an hour, send a carefully crafted professional email, post a brief update to a work Slack channel, reply to a friend’s text with a two-word response, and leave a comment on a public social media thread. Each of these involves a different genre, a different audience, and a different register. What makes digital contexts interesting from a linguistic standpoint is that the genres are relatively new, the conventions are still evolving, and the cost of a register mismatch can be high—a message that reads as too casual can damage a professional relationship, while one that is strangely formal in an informal channel can seem cold or even suspicious.
Digital contexts have created new genre conventions.
Email.
Formal emails follow traditional letter conventions:
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Clear subject line
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Professional greeting
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Organized body paragraphs
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Appropriate closing
Informal emails are more conversational but still clear.
Social Media.
Features:
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Character/length constraints
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Hashtags and mentions
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Informal register usually expected
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Genre-specific conventions (threads, captions, etc.)
Text Messages.
Features:
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Abbreviated forms
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Emoji/emoticons
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Incomplete sentences acceptable
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Highly informal register
