Face emojis, such as are particularly popular for clarifying or enhancing the emotional tone of messages 9,10. Viewed through the lens of metacommunication, emojis function similarly to earlier methods such as underlining, bolding or capitalization, which have historically been used to add emotional or interpretive cues to text 11. According to the Social Information Processing Theory, people use available behavioral cues to develop relationships and interpret others’ perspectives 12,13.

The Emotional Value Of Emojis

We removed studies that only analyzed current norms of emoji usage and perception, rather than their communicative purposes. We decided not to include derivate terms from emojis, such as “sticker,” “avatars,” or “emoticons,” to keep our focus exclusively on the evolution of emojis. Lastly, we removed meta-analysis or literature review articles as our goal was to analyze research articles.

In this study, we explored how the HCI literature has addressed the evolution of emojis for communicating emotions. After identifying 42 papers that examined, employed, and extended the use of emojis, we identified relevant themes that described how emojis’ affordances, design, and capabilities have evolved over the past decade. These articles have introduced new ways for users to communicate their emotions through emojis, which have been constantly reshaped over the past years. I am currently very interested on emojis because of their potential capacity to express emotions and because of their widespread use in computed-mediated communication.

When Shouldn’t You Use Emojis At Work?

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Similarly, on social media, likes and comments evoke strong emotional reactions. Individuals feel happier and more satisfied when their posts receive thehumancapitalhub.com/articles/is-cupidfeel-legit-in-2025-full-safety-trust-review more engagement than expected, perceiving this feedback as positive audience validation 2. Conversely, insufficient peer engagement, such as a lack of likes or positive comments on selfies, can cause stress among teenage girls. This often leads them to adopt emotion- and problem-focused coping strategies 45,63. Correlational analyses were conducted to examine the associations between attachment styles and emoji use (Hypothesis 1). Moderation analyses were also conducted to explore the effect of emotional intelligence on the association between attachment styles and emoji use.

• Apple originally called this “Information Desk Attendant,” in which an outstretched palm was meant to suggest a guiding gesture.
• Emojis can convey tone and emphasis in ways plain text can’t, helping messages feel more natural and personal.
• This approach ensured consistency in emotional tone and reduced the possibility of misinterpretation, sarcasm, or incongruence between textual and visual cues.
• Two main themes described how these papers have (1) improved how users select the right emoji from an increasing emoji lexicon, and (2) employed emojis in new ways and digital materials to enhance communication.
• Participants were successively guided through 20 survey pages, each of which contained a single chat screenshot (according to the assigned message sequence).

Because emojis may be employed as a tool or strategy for enhancing the expression of emotions and enriching the emotional context of a message, attachment styles are likely to evoke differences in the frequency or particular use of emojis. In the current study, we examined differences in emoji use with varying social partners as a function of participants’ attachment styles. To further understand differences in emoji use as a function of individual traits that may impact the expression and/or interpretation of emotionally-laden messages, we also examined the moderating impact of emotional intelligence.

Several different emoji have been pressed into service to highlight insincere or snarky remarks. Unicode officially adopts emoji, adding hundreds more—like cat faces emoting happiness, anger, and tears. If someone texted something that could be seen as mean, then an emoji would help make it seem friendlier. She went on to tell me she sends an emoji of a rocket ship next to a heart when she wants to “send love” to her friends.

What Are Emojis, And Why Do We Like Them?

We included papers that were written starting in 2004 as we want to focus on developments in emoji use. Emojis are most commonly used in communication with clients, vendors and co-workers. When used thoughtfully, they can add emotional context and help create more meaningful conversations by clarifying tone and intent. As a concluding remark, I would like to underscore that the research logic of the reported studies was to observe participants’ judgements and behaviors, and to infer the presence of traditional display norms from these observations.

With 100% of individuals aged 18–29 using their smartphones for texting 1, text messaging has become ubiquitous. The use and variety of emojis have also surged, particularly among young adults. Emojis, as digital symbols conveying nonverbal cues, can be seen as a modern extension of long-standing practices enhancing digital interpersonal communication 2. Emojis are used over 10 billion times daily worldwide 3,4, with 8 in 10 people incorporating emojis into their digital interactions 5.

Their designs and pictorial elements enable nonverbal cues from text and enable users to express emotions outside of words (Gawne and McCulloch, 2019; Novak et al., 2015; Boutet et al., 2021). As a result, users can convey different tones and emotions that might be lost or hard to express using plain text (Highfield and Leaver, 2016). Furthermore, emojis are used in highly personalized ways, where they may take on multiple functions depending on the relationship between their users (Wiseman and Gould, 2018).