Written Network Communication: Communicative Needs and Ambiguity of Interpretations

Abstract

Social networks are dynamic, accessible virtual planes of communication, through which users carry out the cross-border and transient exchange of information and emotions, meeting their communication needs. The article outlines the main aspects of written communication, its communicative needs, and the ambiguity of interpretations.
The constant growth of the popularity of social networks with the simultaneous displacement of the importance of live, direct communication forces scientists in various fields, including the theory of communication, communicative linguistics, to rethink the phenomenon of "communication". It is about creating a special discourse, which is caused by the specifics of the communication channel/code between communicators and the virtual chronotype. Attention has been drawn to written communication on social networks in terms of speakers’ intentions, the interpretation of explicit and implicit information, its impact on the participants of communication, the formation of the special culture of communication (non-library), etc.
Specificity in the written form of communication in the social media has been caused by many factors: the readiness or unreadiness of the virtual interlocutor to interact; dominance of visual perception, hence, special attention of recipients to the layout, structuring of the text, volume, photo accompaniment, etc.; knowledge of the latest trends in online communication (fashion clichés, abbreviations, slang, memes); replacement or substitution of non-verbal means by various means of paragraphemics, for example, smilies, stickers, pictures, animation, etc.; developing of a specific network chronotype, in which there are no time limits and which is constantly expanding in volume due to the multiplicity of accounts, texts, chats, groups.
Not everyone who communicates on social media knows the intentions of other people. On the one hand, such communication generates the selectivity or concealment of true meanings in the author's texts and on the other hand, additional meanings are taken on during the recipients’ interpretation.