Are you among those who still insist on not using emojis? Bad news: there are very good chances that the people you communicate with will find you boring or too serious.
It gets worse: in case you are single, know that people who don’t use emojis have less chance of making gallant conquests. Data that tell how much these communication tools, born in Japan in the late 90s, have become an integral part of our daily language.
Emojis are much more than just a child’s play and have by now assumed a crucial role: bridging the gap that can be created when we communicate through short text messages, helping us to convey every nuance and limiting misunderstandings as much as possible. Example: there is a difference between answer to an apology message saying “that’s okay.” or “don’t do anything” with a smiley face).
These elements have also been highlighted by research Global Emoji Trend Report 2021 di Adobe, conducted among 9 thousand people from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Australia and South Korea. 89% of respondents confirmed that they use emojis to “communicate by overcoming language barriers”, 91% say they use them to “lighten the atmosphere” and 67% consider the people who use it “more friendly and fun”.
No wonder the most successful emojis are all confirmation, affection or empathy. Among the top 5 most used globally we find:
-
The smiley that ride
-
The inch raised confirmation
-
The heart
-
The kiss
-
The tears of sadness
network phenomena
Cats have taken over the internet, but we have forgotten it
by Diletta Parlangeli
What happened to the smile?
There are two elements of this ranking that might surprise you: the first is the absence of the classic smiley face, perhaps considered antiquated; the second is that in the first place there is still an emoji that has been in recent years often considered antiquated (“boomer”, as they say). And instead, not only the laughing face is permanently the most used, but it is, according to the Adobe report, also among the exponents of Generation Z. Obviously, confirm to friends that their joke (or gif or meme) made people laugh remains a priority.
All the most popular emojis, therefore, have the purpose of communicating fundamental and basic feelings. To be precise, the ones most frequently conveyed by smileys are love, happiness, sadness, anger and surprise. Things get complicated when we decide to experiment and use emojis with a less obvious meaning, perhaps using them in unclear contexts. It will come as no surprise to find that the most misunderstood emojis are those that lend themselves to ambiguity, such as eggplant, peach and clown. The first two because, as is known, they carry with them double meanings of a sexual nature; the third probably because clowns are among the most ambivalent figures in our society.
It is certainly also because of these emojis that 76% of respondents say that “you should only use emojis whose meaning you fully understand“. Not only that: 52% think they “received the wrong emoji from someone” and 33% admit they regretted the emoji sent.
To be used with caution
In short, better be careful when using smileys, especially since they are increasingly widespread also in the workplace, where misunderstandings can have serious consequences. 69% of the sample say they also use them for professional purposes and 71% believe they can have a positive impact on their colleagues. In the office, however, we will find few hearts and even fewer clowns. The 3 most used are all motivating or confirming, like thumbs up and ok.
There are other differences in the use of emojis, depending mainly on generations and genders, but there is one aspect on which 67% of the sample agrees: in conversations: excessive use is annoying. On the other hand, why use 8 smiley faces when one or two are perfectly capable of delivering the same message? The golden rule is the same as with exclamation points: better not to abuse them. Especially if we want to avoid our interlocutor treating us sufficiently. And answer us with a face of disapproval.
.