Facial Expressions on the Internet \ stacker news ~meta

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4288 sats \ 10 comments \ @kr 15 Feb meta

When people talk face to face, their words are only a fraction of the information they convey.

A ton of information is transmitted via facial expressions, posture, and body language…and most of it is lost when conversations move online.

How can social platforms replicate this kind of information transfer between people?

Ideally, this information should effortlessly move from one person to another just like it does in the real world. I don’t need to tell someone I’m happy or sad, my smile or frown does that work for me.

Reactions are the closest proxy I’ve seen to transmitting facial expressions over the internet, but even they require a click… and they don’t follow people wherever they go (they only convey “this post makes me happy/sad/angry”)

Would love to hear other approaches to transmitting rich, contextual information across the internet.

I know this is a hard problem to solve, but it might unlock healthier, more productive discussions.

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1127 sats \ 3 replies \ @ladyluck 16 Feb

With the advent of VR, I know for a fact a person's physic, demeanour and mannerism can be scanned and transmitted during those sort of communication ergo information will be successfully passed

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @kr OP 16 Feb

fair, maybe text based internet discussions are more akin to written letters while VR is more akin to face to face discussions

459 sats \ 1 reply \ @ladyluck 16 Feb

This will be the best way to put it and with neuralink implant coming in humans, your thought might not just be yours any more.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Se7enZ 16 Feb

Maybe they were never really just yours to begin with?

584 sats \ 0 replies \ @OriginalSize 16 Feb

I've often wondered what it'd be like if online culture normalized video/voice calls. The height of communication in many futuristic movies of the past was the video call and yet it seems we've taken to that only for work or close friends and family. I suppose it's too intense for the kind of interactions we find easy and enjoyable.

527 sats \ 1 reply \ @0xIlmari 16 Feb

Isn't that exactly why emoticons were "invented"? Even a well-placed "lol" (used to be just ":D") conveys a lot about your emotional state when writing that sentence.

They are absolutely critical (and still in use) in mediums like IRC to avoid misunderstandings. Less so in long-form, low-frequency communication like SN where you can craft your message more carefully.

I don't understand why, over time, the culture of the Internet evolved to shunning them and generally considering them "something only teenagers/facebookers do" (in a pejorative meaning).