Ryan Poyet

Show Some Emoji!

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My methods included a survey, interview, and focus group. 40 people took my survey, 4 people were interviewed, and 8 people participated in my focus group. They included questions about emoji usage.

My research question: How and why do people use graphical (emoji) and contextual capabilities to convey meaning and emotion through text? 

- My data shows that people use emojis to clearly show emotions through text. The emojis help put a face on the message being sent.

My Hypothesis: People use graphical and contextual capabilities to communicate specific emotions (in non-ambiguous situations) in order to eliminate this chance of misunderstanding.

- My data shows that emojis were used to show communicate specific emotions. People mention many times how they would use emojis to make sure that the right meaning and emotions were people expressed (ex. :) used to show that they were happy, :( to show they were sad)

My data shows that emojis were most used to be clear or just for fun. Emojis help put a facial expression on a meaning to make sure the message was clear. And sometimes the emoji looked so silly and fun that people would use it for no reason but it just be fun and silly.