eCute! The Evolution and Impact of Cute Culture on Social Media

important and influential new visual communication language, Cutemmunication, has emerged and is becoming an integral part of and a significant form in human interactions; and consequently plays an important role in helping bridge the gap between cultures and societies that are increasingly on the move.

visual semiotics (pg248) ;

Cute literacy has the ability to communicate graphically as opposed to spoken language, we use to convey meanings. 

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) coined the term ‘semiotic’, which refers to the process of making meaning through the formation of signs and symbols

Saussure defined language as a “system of signs that expresses ideas”, and the sign as the basic linguistic unit.

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The term ‘Semiotics’ was derived from the Greek word ‘Semeion’, denoting ‘Sign’ (Martin & Ringham, 2006). For the semiotician, signs are regarded as cultural symbols essential for constructing language and facilitating communication.

Saussure defined language as a “system of signs that expresses ideas”, and the sign as the basic linguistic unit.

Visual semantics 250

In the Internet age, visual semantics plays a key role in bridging human and machine knowledge representations. Nowadays, the booming of computer iconography such as signs, symbols, and emoticons has already accounted for the importance of graphical information transmission. Visual semantics is concerned with the meaning of visual presentations, and it also refers to the part of our semantic memory involving the knowledge and recognition of visual aspects around us.

Semiotics, the study of sign, which regards communication as interaction and negotiation of meanings rather than a literary transmission of messages from the sender to the receiver.

We must also note that emoticons—often collaboratively created by online users—are not as abstract as ancient signifiers (symbols).

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The visual semantics of Comicons can function as linguistics; for example, if we change the punctuation of book title Eats, Shoots and Leaves, it can be read as Eats Shoots and Leaves and that means something completely different from what the book title suggests.

As any language is a reflection its culture, signs as a form for communication must naturally carry meanings in a specific social setting (Pinker ,1994). Although the meanings of signs are fixed, their use and interpretation in actual social applications are always open and arbitrary which lead to the so-called “unlimited semiosis”.

According to Eco’s Model Q, the signs are dynamic with the capacity of self-renewal and revitalization. Signs are not text or words that are defined in a dictionary, but are viewed from various perspectives and can be decoded connotatively. This has laid a theoretical foundation for explaining the unlimited possibilities and booming of comics

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Most of Japanese Manga tends to use both pictogram and abstract signs to convey a particular emotion, and often changes the shape of facial features to convey inner feeling—‘a sign within a sign’.

After the steady increase in Manga’s popularity and usage for nearly half a century, the system of signs has been applied to comical emoticons in the post-Web 2.0 era.

Emergence of Visual Language: Texts Replaced by Graphics - 269

The new generation of comical emoticons has now expanded beyond simple cartoon facial expressions to a variety of still or animated images to represent body language, activity and narrative.

0. And as we are living a mobile lifestyle, constantly on the move and interactive, it is foreseeable that the popularity of Comicon will only increase.
   
   
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   According to Edlin, Golanty & Brown (1999), in the communication between an intimate connection every communication-act carries two types of messages. The first is a literal message, which is the message conveyed by the symbols themselves, as in the words ‘The ball is falling’ or ‘The bird is flying’. The second type is the meta-message, which carries implicit messages behind the reason for the communication, how the message is to be interpreted, and the nature of the relationship between the sender and the receiver. When the feelings coexisting with a message represent strong emotions, such as excitement, disappointment, fear, anger, etc., the meta-message implicitly conveys the true state of mind.
   
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   Cute elements are therefore roaming in the virtual space and making our social life colorful. Cuteness in online communication has the effect of softening conflicts due to social class stratifications, gender, age, race, and language. Due to their ability to convey emotions, emoticons make communication more personal—a smiley can break the ice, a childlike writing style can make people laugh, and a cartoon face can gives a humorous impression creating a relaxing conversational atmosphere.
   
   
   

   A higher demand for personalized communication has consequently fostered the creativity of iconography and digital literacy. In social media and digital communication, cute art and Kawaii culture play an important role of social agent reflecting our socio-cultural, semiotic, aesthetic, and economic values in the post-Web 2.0 era that is characterized by high mobility, excessive information-feed, constant connectivity in virtuality and physical detachment. Cute icons instantiated as Comicons help the user humanize the virtual space and turn the cold technological world into a warmer, friendlier and more bearable world.
   
   A variety of social media provides further platforms for self performativity and facilitates the globalization of cute culture online. Human culture and language have been evolving along with the development media. Cute symbols and elements have been widely spread by online users
   
   After the arrival of Web 2.0, the expressive Comicons have been playing roles as social agents in popular social media such as Facebook and blogs. The playful Comicons is more expressive than conventional smileys because of facial expressions, bodily movement, and background. Not only are they as capable in supplement the missing cues as conventional smileys, but they are also capable of conveying narrative and represent one’s identity at the same time.
   
   Previous research by Yale scientists explained the phenomenon of the influence of packaging: children said that the goodies from boxes with cartoon characters tasted better than the same stuff did from a plain container (Laffel, 2010). 
   
   In the digital age, these little characters have become incarnated into Comicons, and have continued their social functions. Strikingly, users keep sending Comicons instead of written text on a regular basis in social media
   
   As the real-world and the virtual world markets are increasingly integrated, characters from Comicons are becoming representatives for TV commercials for consumer products, and some have even become celebrities.