Abstract: The Evolution of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) is inherent to the emergence of new media that support communication such as Social Network Sites (SNSs). Their evolution has led to the re-definition of communication. Facebook is a SNS whose use is pervasive worldwide and that deeply penetrates in its users’ everyday life and tends to become invisible once it is widely adopted and taken for granted. Not different from other social network sites, Facebook encourages its users to mind their manners online in order to guarantee communicative relevance and effectiveness. Netiquette are codified rules that are either stated or unannounced but they maintain order within any virtual speech community. This research paper aims to study the importance of politeness rituals or simply netiquette in the Tunisian Facebook speech community and its variation along the variable age. Based on a quantitative method of data collection and a statistical analysis of variance, it was found that netiquette does not vary in terms of users’ age. The participants are conscious about the importance of online social interaction norms and about the necessity of some rules of conduct on Facebook IM in order to guarantee successful communication. This study gives ample evidence that there is consensus about the importance of norms in online media and discredits the speculative claims about the crisis of standards in virtual speech communities.
Keywords: CMC, Virtual Speech Community, Netiquette, Flaming.
Title: The Importance of Netiquette in the Tunisian Virtual Speech Community
Author: Sabrine Chbichib
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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