ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the social significance of personal forms of free expression. Personal communication forms have led to new approaches to free expression, particularly among teenagers. Free expression may be episodic and dependent on expertise in a particular subarea. The use of e-mail as an alternative to repressed speech in a work or school environment suggests that the Internet serves the venting function of free expression that Thomas Emerson suggested created a safety valve to relieve built-up social pressure. In the business setting, e-mail has the potential to alter patterns of social interaction. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has considered regulating e-mail spam and its report on unsolicited commercial e-mail described hours of productivity lost and clogged mailboxes. In e-mail communications, emoticons replace the gestures and expressiveness that typify face-to-face conversations. The potential for e-mail to be both purposefully public and enabling to private communication is a fertile research arena.
