Around 70% of Americans feel that their message are not complete if they don’t contain an emoji. According to a study of 9,400 remote and hybrid workers from across 11 countries, including 1,000 from the US, most Americans are inclined to use emojis relative to respondents from other countries (71% versus 57%).
Although Americans are particularly emoji-friendly, not everybody agrees on the meanings of emojis or how to use them, much like how different individuals use different languages.
In a survey for World Emoji Day, researchers presented respondents with several emojis and inquired what connotation they were far more likely to identify with them. It seems that a fifth of Americans is unsure of the difference between the “face with tears of joy (????)” and the “loudly crying (????)” emojis. Similar to those who use “sobbing/upset crying,” 25% of those who encounter the “loudly crying” emoji claim they employ it to convey that “I’m crying tears of joy.”
While the emojis certainly resemble one another, users should exercise caution to avoid “laughing” in the wrong context. Besides that, a comparable proportion of American participants (34%) use the skull emoji to indicate that a situation is so amusing that they are “dead.” Close to 38% of American participants agree that the skull emoji (????) denotes death.
The “slightly smiling face (????)” equally may relay a different message than people think. The emoji is mostly used when one feels happy (38%) and general positivity(39%), but it could mean distrust or deep exasperation.
Learning and Curriculum Manager at Duolingo, Dr. Hope Wilson, said that the findings demonstrate that individuals use emojis similarly to other types of communication: their use varies depending on the context and their subtlety of connotation. Emojis, however, are necessary for people from various cultures and countries to communicate in real-time, frequently high-stakes circumstances since they have diverse emoji patterns and demands. This is especially true for work-related chats using messaging apps.