Abbreviate and insert? Message length, addressee and non-standard writing in Italian mobile texting and Facebook

ABSTRACT

This study analyses non-standard typography (NST) (abbreviations and insertions) and its relationship to the message length, the addressee in two modes: Facebook and mobile texting SMS in the same context, i.e., messages sent by listeners of an Italian radio station. The analysis of NST showed that, if not accounted for length, there were more abbreviations in SMS messages and more insertions in Facebook messages. Nevertheless, when accounting for length, addressee analysis and non-standard typography comparison between shorter and longer messages has revealed a more nuanced picture. While Facebook messages concurrently included insertions and abbreviations, however, such use of NST has not influenced the message length: no differences were found between actual or hypothetical length neither in Facebook, nor in SMS. Furthermore, addressee analysis has revealed that listenerto-listener messages contained more NST, compared to the ones where listeners addressed their messages to the radio station, indicating a perceived differentiation between interlocutors marked via NST. These findings indicate users’ adaptations to technological length constraints, addressee awareness or an overall sensitivity towards the genre of interactive message exchange via this radio broadcaster. In other words, listeners might have (intuitively) developed a perceived optimal message length for both modes of communication.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-standard typography
• Facebook
• SMS
• Italian
• length
• addressee
• texting

Acknowledgements

This study could not have been done without listeners’ messages and the radio station itself which provided me with these data. Thus, I dedicate this study to the listeners of the analysed radio station. This real-world data sample is very valuable for research purposes because it accounts for ecological validity. However, even if messages were sent with the intention to be publicly broadcast and displayed, users might not have expected to be part of a scientific study. I hope that this radio station’s listeners would be interested in reading results of this study and to be part of this scientific contribution.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. SMS messages are treated as restrictive due to the 160-character length imposed not only by some mobile phones but more so by the radio programme’s broadcasting—where only one segment (of a given multi-segment message) of the message can be fit for broadcast.

2. 2013 data for this radio station’s listenership demographics included 11% of listeners from 14–17 years old; 17% of 18–24; 20% of 25–34; 23% of 35–44; 17% of 45–54; 7% of 55–64; and 4% of beyond 64 years old (Radiomonitor, 2013). Yet, no such data are available for Facebook or SMS senders’ demographics. It is possible to assume that the senders of those messages to the radio station are predominantly younger adults, reflecting the overall demographics.

3. Even if some phone types no longer visually segment content in 160 characters, the analysed corpus was based on mobile texting sent to the radio-TV station that broadcasts mobile message segments segmented to 160 characters.

4. The use of the smartphones in Italy by 2011 has exhibited growth, however, comprised 20 million users—the third of the population, as reported by Russo (2011).

5. This study could not assess the type of device through which users sent SMS and Facebook messages: i.e., whether SMS and Facebook were sent through a smartphone and if Facebook messages were sent via computer or a smartphone.

6. Real-time archives of Facebook and mobile texting are available via http://www.rtl.it/social-network/

7. Author wants to thank Marco Frassoni from Fondazione Bruno Kessler for writing Python script to extract these variables.

8. By the number of words, ANOVA showed statistically significant differences between Facebook and SMS, F(1, 1998) = 6.585, p = .010. SMS messages were longer (M = 14.98, SD =  8.224) than Facebook (M = 13.94, SD = 9.862).