Amber Neely
Adobe has released its 2022 Emoji Report, showing that the popularity and acceptance of emoji for communication is only growing.
The study, which surveyed over 5,000 emoji users from the United States, sought to uncover how Americans use emoji for self-expression.
As it turns out, 73% of those polled thought people who used emojis are friendlier, funnier, and cooler than those who don't. And 91% of respondents felt that emoji make it easier to express themselves — with 60% reporting that emojis have the ability to boost overall mental health.
Americans have their favorite emoji, too. Perhaps least surprising of all, the tears of joy emoji continues to be the favorite emoji of those in the U.S.
Tears of joy — also sometimes referred to as crying while laughing — was also 2021's most popular emoji.
Thumbs up, red heart, and rolling on the floor laughing took second, third, and fourth place, respectively. The fifth favorite emoji is the crying face emoji.
While many respondents thought emoji make it easier to express yourself, 50% of those polled noted that they used emoji differently than their intended meanings.
The study found that the cowboy emoji is the most understood in the U.S., while cherries and upside-down face took second and third place, respectively.
The survey also uncovered that two out of five Americans do not see their identities reflected in current emoji options. In addition, U.S. emoji users would like to see age, race/ethnicity, culture, and disability categories expanded to be more inclusive.
Unicode's upcoming 15.0 release is set to roll out sometime in September. Some of the new emoji set to hit devices include a pink heart, a jellyfish, and a shaking face.
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8 Comments
As it turns out, 73% of those polled are complete morons. ߤt;/span> (Blog doesn't support emojis from macOS apparently.)
Nah they're fine, using emoji is light-hearted and fun. Our friends & family of all ages enjoy the well-placed emoji.
Well, I'm doing at least one thing right in my life.
;)
Using emoji makes you more likable TO PEOPLE WHO ALSO USE EMOJI, study finds
This is not a survey of a representative sample of people who receive messages. It's a survey of emoji users who - unsurprisingly - have positive feelings about emoji use.
I don't mind the use of emoji or the non-use, mainly because I'm Gen-X. We existed on this planet long before emoji, the Twitter character limit, etc. What bothers me is "texting English" which is basically just CODE that requires a dictionary of terms to figure out. Many young people use that "code" because they are too lazy to type. But if it puts them on the path to becoming a court reporter, fine and well!
Even so, I think it would be wrong to make the use of emoji a requirement for likability because many people older than myself prefer not to use emoji at all. To treat them worse than younger folks who love emoji would amount to ageism or age discrimination.