How do users read emoji?
In the very early stages of this project, we designed two prompts through which we have begun to build an archive to gather a sense of how people read these images. The first avenue we explored was FaceBook. Emma and I both shared a prompt urging Facebook friends to tell us what meaning they attach to six popular emoji faces.
Hello Everyone! We are researching emoji, and thought what better place to start than here?
If you wouldn't mind participating, please comment:
What does each of these symbols say to YOU?
If you wouldn't mind participating, please comment:
What does each of these symbols say to YOU?
There were a total of 48 volunteers via this post combined with a poster version of the prompt which produced thirteen hand written responses. Unfortunately, some of the data was unusable, as many said "same as person X." After sorting through the responses we used a total of thirty-six participants who had provided the most conclusive data. From these volunteers we were able to gather some interesting theories about how our culture responds to these six popular emoji faces.
The following comments are the responses we received from Facebook participants. They have been made anonymous for this context.
PA Hello pretty girl...(1) happy (2) laughing (3) winking (4) surprised (5) aggravated (6) so sad. Love you
BEK- Happy
2-Happier
3- Winking because you just gave me a TAKE5 bar and you are totally getting LUCKY tonight
4- I have no words for the shock you have laid upon me
5- I am about to piss you off with what I am going to tell you
6 - Le Sigh.
VM: Happy
2: "oh stop it"
3: "how you doin'"
4: "Say what?!"
5: taco poops
6: sad
KM- happy/awesome
2- daw/gee whiz
3- right on (sexual undertone)
4- gahhhh/da fuck?
5- my favorite and it has now come to my attention that I'm doing it wrong because this is my "I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself" face
6- that sucks/I'm sorry, I suck: don't hate me.
GB1. Blushing, something cute was said happy 2. Giddy happy 3. Hey sexy thang" 4. Omg , wtf , in shock 5. So excited 6. Upset
TM1) happy
2) relieved
3) confident
4) surprised
5) stressed
6) depressed
KS1 happy 2 bashful snicker 3 wink 4 say whaaaaaaa?? 5 cringe 6 sad
JA1. happy 2. epic happy 3. sly/kidding 4. shock 5. yikes 6. sad
AM1- happy
2-so happy I'm blushing
3- winking/flirting
4-surprised/taken back
5- excited
6-sad/ upset
KLB1-happy 2-pleased 3-winking 4-embarrassed 5-nervous 6-disappointed
- EJO1) Content 2) Awwww! 3) Cheeky 4) What? 5) Grrrrr! and 6) Sorry!
AS1. Happy/ Thanks for babysitting, 2. Aww you're sweet and it makes me smile 3. Frisky/ I just said something rude but you know I'm kidding 4. Oh crap! I just sent that text to the wrong person. 5. I know this might annoy you but can you... 6. Someone just said something snarky/ funny and I'm pretending my feelings are hurt.
CMDHappy. Bashful because U just complimented me. Oh yea baby -wink. Wtf. Smiling but I don't really mean it- faking happy. Defeated.
LK- adoring smile, 2- blushing from a compliment (or because you know you're the shit already), 3- how YOU doin?, 4- something epically awesome was just said, 5- im about to ask you a favor, and 6- utter defeat
KAHappy me. Pleased to meet you. You are sure cute (flirt). Surprised to see you here. Wrong again. It's over
CM1. Happy, 2. content, 3.Flirty, 4. Did I just say that?, 5. Did YOU just say that, 6. feeling blue. Hey girl! miss ya!!!
MB1- happy
2- flattered
3- I like the way you think!
4- say what???
5- GRRRR!!!
6- I miss you
BK1. Happy 2.Satisfied 3.Flirty 4.Shocked 5.Tweaking 6. Disappointed
BC1- Happy 2- Cute, similar to the face 3) flirty 4) uncomfortable 5) cheesed 6- sad
KAB1) Happy 2) Fake happy 3) Just between us 4)WTH 5) Frustrated 6) I'm sorry
- PH 1 happy 2 blushing 3 excited 4 shocked5 angry 6 sad
LSD 1-happy 2-embarrassed 3-jokester 4 - surprised 5-frustrated 6 contrite
CD 1-happy
2-embarrassed
3-mischievous
4-surprised
5-frustrated
6-sad
What symbolic interpretation can we construct based on this reading of emoji?
Emojipedia.org is a site which defines each emoji character as it was originally intended to be used. In some cases respondents agreed, and in others it seems these characters have taken on new meaning within Western culture.
This emoji according to www.emojipedia.org means “A smiling face, with smiling eyes and rosy cheeks. Showing a true sense of inner happiness.” Which would correlate to our own research where most people agreed that this face with squinting eyes, and wide smile represents a sense of happiness and contentment. Though perhaps more interesting were the personal applications people extended to these symbols. One example can be seen above in AS's response where the respondent writes "Happy/Thanks for babysitting." This person is extending the meaning of this image, the second statement suggests further meaning in the face as happy, but also grateful for something. LK also provides and interesting response, "adoring smile." This also denotes a deeper meaning, in this respondent connects this face to when they might feel adored or feel someone else has done something worthy of adoration.
Emojipedia labels this face as “White Smiling Face” Here whit is Unicode “White” which predates emoji and means this image is one transferred from the wingdings and web dings fonts. Most people said this face was bashful. Respondents may have found it to be bashful and not general happiness, like number one, because of their placement next to each other. Yet, We believe this did not compelled respondents to choose a different emotion. This face clearly has more of a sense of giggling, hence "bashfulness" in comparison to the first face. . As can be seen in the correlating pie graph people do have their own conceptions of what this face should mean, or when they might typically use it. Such as respondent KA, who writes "pleased to meet you" to this person the emoji is more pleased. Another interesting observation was from MB and LK. MB claimed this face meant "flattered" and LK said, "blushing from a compliment." These two respondents were not alone in their usage of this face, as bashful also holds these connotations. As we are often mixed with the emotions of happy and slightly humbled when complimented, it seems the blushing cheeks and smile with the closed eyes and brows raised is the symbol we attach to this emotion.
Emojipedia defines this face as used to imply humor, or as a form of flirtation. Our responders agreed with Emojipedia, and this seems likely, because in our western culture when we wink, we generally convey a sense of playful flirtatiousness, and fun. Many agreed they used this face when they were making a joke or being suggestive. However a few did remark on other connotations of this face. One written response claimed it was more than flirty, and extends to "creepy.' Two other respondents imply its use as a defense for making a crude joke, claiming adding the face implied they "didn't mean what [they] just said." Perhaps most interestingly, several combined the two modalities and claimed the face symbolized the more intimate "inside-joke" combining both the intimacy of "flirty" and the "just kidding" of "joking."
Emojipedia definition of this symbol is an "embarrassed face with flushed red cheeks." Interesting because 50% of respondents said this was “surprised." This came as no surprise to us as our human expression in a surprised state indeed mimics this emoji. Additionally this emoji is one of the select few with white of eye showing, making it more human like. During the poster version of this experiment we were able to observe the participants as they responded to each image. With this face and with face five people tended to resort to mimicking the facial expression as a way to attach meaning to it. They attempted to bulge their eyes and then write their response. We really enjoyed one respondents attachment to this face. CM says, "Did I just say that!? or Did you just say that!?" in regard to this face. This extends meaning in that not only is the image conveying the surprise, but more specifically the image implies that whatever was just said was out of character for the sender or receiver of the message.
As can be seen in this image showing our gathered data, this face was the most difficult to find a specific and agreed upon set of meaning. There was a litany of responses which ranged the scale of emotions from happy to angry and everything in between. The largest category here is other because we often had responses that were unique to one person. People saw this image as a frustrated face, as if its growling or gritting and bearing its teeth in anger. They also saw this face as a show off smile, or used when trying to convey the senders awareness that the attached text could be perceived as conceited. Others said they used this image in response to an accident. Like an, "oh sheesh," I messed up this time. The fewest number of respondents replied with what the emoji's original intention was which is a "grinning face" as can be seen in the green slice. One respondent KM uses the face correctly, but interestingly because of the new cultural connotations said this, "my favorite and it has now come to my attention that I'm doing it wrong because this is my 'I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself' face.
Emojipedia says this is a face translating pensive, remorseful, or hurt. Respondents, agreed, but as more of a general sadness, or depressive state. Though many also claimed they use this face to convey they are "sleepy" or "worn out." Several also claim this face as disappointed, According to written responses users choose this symbol to represent both their disappointment in others and in themselves. A large portion also conveyed regret with this face. They use it similarly as they do for disappointment, to convey both personal regret and a sympathetic regret for the situation of the receiver.