Message

A message is a discrete unit of communication intended by the source for consumption by some recipient or group of recipients. A message may be delivered by various means, including courier, telegraphy, or an electronic bus. A message can be the content of a broadcast. An interactive exchange of messages forms a conversation.^[1] The consumption of the message relies on how the recipient interprets the message, there are times where the recipient contradicts the intention of the message which results in a boomerang effect. ^[2] Message fatigue is another outcome recipients can obtain if a message is conveyed too much by the source. ^[3]

One example of a message is a press release, which may vary from a brief report or statement released by a public agency to commercial publicity material. ^[4] Another example of a message is how they are portrayed to a consumer via an advertisement.

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In communication between humans, messages can be verbal or nonverbal:

• A verbal message is an exchange of information using words. Examples include face-to-face communication, telephone calls, voicemails, emails, etc.
• A nonverbal message is communicated through actions or behaviors rather than words, such as conscious or unconscious body language.

The phrase "send a message" or "sending a message" is also used for actions taken by a party to convey that party's attitude towards a certain thing. For example, a government that executes people who commit acts of treason is sending a message that treason will not be tolerated.^[5] Conversely, a party that appears through its actions to endorse something that it opposes can be said to be "sending the wrong message",^[5] while one which appears to simultaneously endorse contradictory things can be said to be sending "mixed messages".^[6]

There are two main senses of the word "message" in computing: messages between the human users of computer systems that are delivered by those computer systems, and messages passed between programs or between components of a single program, for their purposes.

• Instant messaging and emails are examples of computer software designed for delivering human-readable messages in formatted or unformatted text, from one person to another.
• Message passing is a form of communication used in concurrent and parallel computing, object-oriented programming, and channel communicates, where communication is made by sending messages to recipients. In a related use of this sense of a message, in object-oriented programming language such as main library ["msg" box]Smalltalk or Java, a message is sent to an object, specifying a request for action.

Safety and privacy concerns have been expressed in the computer science industry regarding messages. There have been cases where instant messaging apps were found to present a risk of spyware infection.^[7] Text messaging is one of the larger causes of distracted driving, and the act of texting and driving has been made illegal in many states as a result.^[8]

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• Media related to Messages at Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of message at Wiktionary
• Quotations related to Message at Wikiquote