Editing Message (section)

{{Short description|Discrete unit of communication}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Distinguish|Massage|Messuage}}

[[File:Glaspalast München 1891 062.jpg|thumb|240px|''Geheime Korrespondenz'' ''(secret correspondence)'', by Carl von Bergen]]
[[File:MountScopusHeadstone2.JPG|thumb|240px|A headstone message in the [[Jerusalem]] British [[World War I]] Cemetery on [[Mount Scopus]]]]

A message is a unit of communication that conveys information from a sender to a receiver. It can be transmitted through various forms, such as spoken or written words, signals, or electronic data, and can range from simple instructions to complex information. <ref>{{Cite book |title=Communication in Everyday Life: A Survey of Communication |isbn=978-1-5443-4987-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Theories of Human Communication |isbn=978-1-57766-706-3}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03637751.2020.1813317 |access-date=2024-05-24 |journal=Communication Monographs |doi=10.1080/03637751.2020.1813317 |title=Proattitudinal versus counterattitudinal messages: Message discrepancy, reactance, and the boomerang effect |date=2021 |last1=Zhao |first1=Xinyan |last2=Fink |first2=Edward L. |volume=88 |issue=3 |pages=286–305 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Message fatigue is another outcome recipients can obtain if a message is conveyed too much by the source.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03637751.2016.1250429 |access-date=2024-05-24 |journal=Communication Monographs |doi=10.1080/03637751.2016.1250429 |title=Message fatigue: Conceptual definition, operationalization, and correlates |date=2017 |last1=So |first1=Jiyeon |last2=Kim |first2=Soela |last3=Cohen |first3=Heather |volume=84 |pages=5–29 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> 

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.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07359683.2012.705708 |access-date=2024-05-24 |journal=Health Marketing Quarterly |doi=10.1080/07359683.2012.705708 |title=Message Strategies in Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising: A Content Analysis Using Taylor's Six-Segment Message Strategy Wheel |date=2012 |last1=Tsai |first1=Wan-Hsiu (Sunny) |last2=Lancaster |first2=Alyse R. |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=239–255 |pmid=22905945 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Another example of a message is how they are portrayed to a consumer via an advertisement.