Emoji are a big deal – are you using them right?
Emoji, the cutesy images that litter the text messages of kids, teens and the young at heart, have quickly risen to become pop culture icons – and businesses have taken note.
Some business applications of emoji have come in the form of effective campaigns to connect to the demographics that use them most – as well as some borderline silliness.
On the effective side, brands such as McDonalds and Coca Cola have recently incorporated emoji into their advertising.
Coca Cola went so far as to register web domains using popular emoji, and slapping the addresses onto billboards, encouraging consumers to visit (via mobile web).
Coca Cola emoji billboard
On the sillier side of things, in June, ahead of the 2016 Chevrolet Cruse, GM issued a press release composed entirely of emoji.
Remarkably, when read alongside the translation (using actual words), the initial press statement made a bizarre kind of sense.
Then there’s the matter of Sony securing the rights to make an emoji movie.
Silliness aside, Research conducted by The Atlantic found that 76% of all adults make use of emoji, and the practice has quickly slipped into the workplace – where millennials are now one of the biggest generations in the workforce.
According to socio-linguist, Lauren Collister, both emoji and emoticons (text-based emotes such as ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) are revolutionizing language.
Specifically, in emails, emoji act as discourse particles — a word that has no semantic meaning but adds intention to a statement.
Other studies agreed, finding that the use of emoji wasn’t necessarily used to convey emotion, but rather as signal of tone: to mark jokes, or soften or strengthen statements that could be easily misread.
And as communications between people, companies and clients increasingly moves to a more informal online space (away from cold, toneless emails), the use of emoji is expected to increase even more.
Beyond business
Outside of these practical applications, however, it is not uncommon to find massive (if not excessive) use of emoji in casual conversations over social media and messaging apps.
Rather humorously, certain emoji have taken on a whole new meaning of their own, beyond their original intent.
Here are 10 popular emoji (ranked from most used) which you may see crop up in conversation – which may not mean what you think they do (so be careful using them in emails).
Person with folded hands
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This emoji depicts hands folded together as to pray or to apologize.This emoji is often split between its intended use (to pray) and being used to show a high-five. This ambiguity means you’ll need to double check to see if someone sent it in sorrow or regret, or in celebration. |
New moon face
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The new moon face is simply a depiction of a dark moon, personified.This is a bit of a weird one. The new moon fills a ‘creepy’ or ‘awkward’ role in conversation, often filling an ‘awkward silence’ gap. It is also known by some as the ‘molester moon’, adding to its creepiness factor. |
Smirking face
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The emoji depicts a half-smile smirk, meant to depict smugness or scorn.While not far off, most users opt to use this emoji to depict a level of ‘naughtiness’, akin to a ‘knowing smile’. Use is also often associated with flirtation. |
Information Desk person
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The emoji depicts an information desk helper, and is supposed to indicate information or help answering a question.However, the character has become synonymous with sass, and coupled with the painting nails emoji, indicates a ‘devil may care’ or ‘haters gonna hate’ attitude. |
Person Bowing
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The emoji depicts a character bowing deeply as a sign of gratitude.However, because the bowing action is not clear, the character is often used to indicate a hug, for whenever a hug needs to be conveyed. |
Raising hands in celebration
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The emoji depicts hands raised up in celebration, used to convey joy.However it is often used to convey quite the opposite – hands in the air to mark “I’m done with this”, or sometimes to in the manner of “preach!” showing passionate agreement. |
Relieved face
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An emoji that is showing relief, with closed peaceful eyes, and a small smile.While the emoji looks happy, it mostly looks happy with itself, and is thus used to convey a smug attitude. |
Mizaru
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One of the three wise monkeys, named Mizaru, used to convey “see no evil”.The monkey looks pretty embarassed, and as such is used to show how embarrassed you are in any given situation. While , Iwazuru (speak no evil) and Kikazuru (hear no evil) are also commonly used to convey the same thing. |
Eggplant/Corn/Banana
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These emoji are meant to be exactly what they are: various foods.Since Instagram moved to block certain sexual words from searches, users have increasingly started using these emoji to depict general x-rated content. The phallic nature of the foods presented have always made them prime targets for use in this way. |
Dancer
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An emoji showing a person dancing to music.This emoji is often used to express excitement, celebration or getting ready to party. It’s best used in three or more, because no one likes to party alone. |
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