The Internet is now an integral part of contemporary life and linguists are increasingly concerned with how it is impacting on language. In this student-friendly guidebook, leading language authority Professor David Crystal follows on from his landmark bestseller Language and the Internet and takes things one step further. This book presents the area as a new field: Internet linguistics. In his engaging trademark style, Crystal investigates how so much junk email gets past the spam filter - and, more importantly, how to stop it - looks at why we (over)use exclamation marks in online communication, analyses the phenomenon of Twitter from a linguistic standpoint and much more. He addresses the online linguistic issues that affect us on a daily basis and incorporates real-life examples and data drawn from his own studies and personal involvement with Internet companies. Including a wide range of activities and suggestions for further research, this is the essential introduction to this critical new field for undergraduates of English language and linguistics.