Renie's essay introduction.

If you’re an internet computer user, you are likely familiar with this internet slang -lol, which means laughing out loud. Internet slang along with internet related terminology known as Netspeak. Netspeak is the special language, abbreviations, acronyms, keyboard symbols and shortened words and expressions used by people when communicating on the Internet(Macmillan Dictionary),and it makes language more diverse. With the proliferation of internet, most the netizens are young people aged from 18 to 35 who tend to be creative, efficient, and rebellious, the language they used to communicate in the cyber space features as a vivid, interesting, simple, and become a symbol of representing their personality. During past 20years, Netspeak made its way became a widespread practice outside the virtue world, and has been exerting an influence upon the application of language. In this essay, firstly, I will analysis its advantage and drawbacks of netspeak, then discuss the possible problems it may have on people and our language, in my view, netspeak as a new and interesting linguistic form, it can revitalize our language that used in our daily life.

Reference: Laccetti, the Lost Art of Writing
Lisa Shaw, How Netspeak Affects English and the Way We Communicate
David crystal, the language and internet, second edition, Cambridge University Press 2001
John Brandon, FWIW -- The origins of 'Net shorthand