An Emoji is a digital picture or icon that represents an emotion, concept or image generally used in electronic communication. I find myself using Emojis more and more these days both whilst texting via SMS or when posting on my favourite social media platforms.
What I love about using Emojis is that you can summarise an entire thought or feeling through one icon (sometimes two for added effect ) and you can literally not need to type out a single word…….and still communicate effectively. The value proposition of the Emoji is that it saves you time.
This does assume that the interpretation of the emoji you are using is universal of course……..which brings me to my next point.
Know thy Emoji
I decided to conduct a dipstick research using a few friends and family members as a sample. The aim was the test how well they know their Emojis and if our understanding of these icons is indeed the same.
I chose to stick to just ten Emojis as a pilot test. I managed to get 15 people to indulge me……
Whilst Emojis are an innovative, time-saving way to communicate, even just based on this quick dipstick test that I conducted, one can see that our interpretations of the Emoji is not ALWAYS necessarily the same.
According to the Emoji Report published by Brand Watch, Emojis are an international language which can be used to communicate regardless of the language that the user speaks. If this assertion is true it could mean that communication barriers that exist between nations could fast become a thing of the past. From the perspective of digital marketing this will warrant investing more time and effort into understanding Emojis and their effectiveness as a communication tool.
SOURCES:
- The Emoji Report, Brandwatch https://www.brandwatch.com/reports/the-emoji-report/view/
- Respondents to the mini-survey, 2018.
