Maybe Pasek and Karpinski Could Have Used a Little More Humor?

From Baym (2006):

Danet et al. (1997) argued that the computer medium is inherently playful because of its ‘ephemerality, speed, interactivity, and freedom from the tyranny of materials’. 

The most common variety of playful language activity online is probably humour, which seems to be more common online than off. In a large project (see Sudweeks et al., 1998) in which dozens of researchers from several countries and universities conducted a quantitative content analysis of thousands of messages from international Usenet newsgroups, BITNET lists and CompuServe, Rafaeli and Sudweeks (1997) found that more than 20 per cent of the messages contained humour. In my analysis of a Usenet newsgroup that discussed American soap operas (Baym, 1995), I found that 27 per cent of messages addressing a dark and troubling storyline were humorous. The forms of humour included clever nicknames for characters (e.g. Natalie, also called Nat, was dubbed ‘Not’ when a new actress took over the role, and became ‘Splat’ when the character was killed in a car accident), plot parodies, and many others. Surveys revealed that humour made both messages and participants stand out as especially likeable.

It's always seemed like everybody wants to be a comedian on the internet, but I didn't know there was empirical evidence.

The medium is dictating both the style and content of the online message, because humor (especially in text form) requires a simultaneous deployment of style and content—like the "clever nicknames" and plot parodies in the soap opera Usenet group. But, too, the effects of adapting to this mode of communication must have real world implications which online usage.

So, here are some questions I wonder about (most of which there are probably answers to, if I looked):

• Is the average person likelier to consider him/herself "funny" than during previous non-"plugged in" generations?
• Do heavy internet users have a more inflated sense of self (especially with respect to humor) than light internet users? 
• Do we generally believe people whom we correspond with exclusively online are funnier or more light-hearted/playful those we know only "in real life"? 
• Are we disappointed when people aren't as humorous in person as we believed them to be online? 
• Do we feel anxious because we worry we aren't clever enough?

(My guess is that some people develop anxiety from their internet selves, while others derive self-importance—which is a cop-out and answers nothing.)