EMOJIS ASTHE NEWMEANS OFCOMMUNICATION

ALICIA K. WHITTLE | KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY

TABLE OFCONTENTSIntroduction.............................................................................p. 1

The Origins of Emoijs..........................................................p. 2

The Developers.......................................................................p. 3

Emoji Use in America.........................................................p. 4

Emojis Go International....................................................p. 5

Emoji Campaigns.................................................................p. 9

Emojis in the Classroom..................................................p. 12

Why We Should Use Emojis..........................................p. 14

Conclusion...............................................................................p. 15

References...............................................................................p. 16

INTRODUCTION

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An “Emoji” is a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or

emotion in electronic communication. Emojis have become so popular

in the last year that many companies have become “FOMO,” as Dr.

Freberg would say. FOMO stands for “Fear of Missing Out” and it is very

evident in the amount of emoji marketing recently. Even though our

society is addicted to using emojis in text, the emoji phenomenon was

actually introduced back in 2001, with the breakthrough of the first

smartphones.

Moreover, Shigetaka Kurita from Japan, is credited for designing the

first emojis in Japan before the U.S. and other countries were formally

introduced in 2001. Before these images or icons were called emojis,

they were first known as emoticons. Scott E. Fahlman is credited in

creating the first emoticons back in the early 80s, to eliminate

confusion in electronic communication.

Today, emojis have become the new means of communication in

society. According to Forbes, 74% of Americans use emojis to

communicate every single day. Emojis have become so versatile in their

usage, that they can be seen almost every where and in many parts of

the world. Like all new trends, it is also important to understand why

we use them.

SCOTT E . FAHLMAN & SH IGETAKA KUR ITA

The term “Emoji” is considered to have come

from Japan, where the “e” stood for “picture”

and the “moji” stood for “character or letter." A

young Japanese man named, Shigetaka Kurita,

is credited for creating the first emoji demos or

prototypes at the end of the 20th century. His

idea stemmed from his current job, where he

was working on the worlds first ever mobile

internet platform. The feature phone he was

collaboratively working on with others, only

allowed for 48-letters on its small LCD screen.

With this small dilemma, Kurita wanted to

figure out how users could fully express their

emotion(s) without using so many letters. By

watching people on the streets and viewing

various objects around him, he was able to

invent the first set of emojis. Furthermore, it

was in 2001, when smartphones started having

emoji capabilities and the US and various

countries were formally introduced to the icon.

In 1982, Scott E. Fahlman created the first

emoticon at Carnegie Mellon University.

Fahlman was a research professor who

could be found in the Language

Technologies Institute and Computer

Science Department at the university. The

emoticon was developed to solve one issue

we all humans struggle with. The ability to

appropriately express how we feel through

“text.” It is very common to send a text

message with a desired meaning, and it

then get misinterpreted by the receiver.

Face to face communication is the best

way to communicate, because one has the

visual cues to help them interpret the

message being heard. However, with the

increase of technology, much of our

communication has become digital. That is

why we must be thankful for the early

strides made by Fahlman and his creating

of the first emoticons:

:) :( 0_0 :D :-) :P -__-

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SHIGETAKA KURITASCOTT E. FAHLMAN

AS TECHNOLOGY PROGRESSES THROUGH TIME AND IS DEVELOPEDTO BETTER MEET OUR NEEDS; ESPECIALLY THROUGH MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, WE SHOULD LOOK BACK AND APPRECIATE THEBREAKTHROUGHS BY FAHLMAN AND KURITA.

THE ORIGINS OFEMOJIS

"At first, I came up with 5 or 6different faces such as thesmiley face. They needed to bedotted to be digitized in theend. I [drew] pictures andcommunicated with designersa lot so they would have a clearidea what the final digitizedimage should look [like]."

~Kurita~

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THE CREATORS

PHOTO CREDIT: INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

PHOTO CREDIT: IGNITION.CO.

SCOTT E. FAHLMAN

SHIGETAKA KURITA

“The problem was that if someone made a sarcastic remark, a fewreaders would fail to get the joke, and each of them would post alengthy diatribe in response. That would stir up more people with moreresponses, and soon the original thread of the discussion was buried. Inat least one case, a humorous remark was interpreted by someone as aserious safety warning.” ~Fahlman~

EMOJI USE INAMERICA

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Top US States and their Emoji

• Arkansas - #1 for the boar emoji

• California - #1 for the taxi emoji

• Hawaii - #1 for the surfing emoji

• Iowa - #1 for the corn emoji

• Maine - #1 for the volcano emoji

• Missouri - # 1 for the cop emoji

• Nevada - #1 for the eggplant emoji

• New York - #1 for the Statue of Liberty emoji

IIMAGE

CREDIT

: GOOGLE

IMAGES

IMAGE CREDIT: SWIFTKEY

According to Forbes, about 74% of Americans use emojis every single day. Moreover,Adweek recorded that 92% of online users confess using emojis when theycommunicate. They also investigated that gender has a lot to do with emoji use. Anestimated 78% of females use emojis and 60% of males use emojis when they text.With that being said, within the United States, certain states are known for also usingspecific emojis. Below is a brief breakdown of the top states and their famous emojiicons.

EMOJIS GOINTERNATIONAL

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Image Credit: Google Images

MOST POPULAREMOJIS USEDWORLD WIDE

EMOJI USE WORLD WIDE

Sad & Happy Faces

Hand Gesture

SwiftKey analyzed over one billion pieces ofemoji data in April 2015. They were ableto retrieve data on what emojis the US andother countries used most. They reportedthat the top five most used emojis by usersaround the world was: Happy faces, Sadfaces, Hearts, Hand gestures, and Romanticemojis.

The top countries and their emoji use arebelow:

Romantic Emojis

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Heart EmojisIM

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IMAGE CREDIT: GOOGLE IMAGES

UNITEDSTATES2015

HOW DOES THE UNITED STATES COMPARETO THE REST OF THE WORLD WHEN IT

COMES TO EMOJI USE?

The French used more positive emojis than anyother culture; while Malaysia used the leastpositive. America led in happy face emojisoverall, but Brazil led in using the “joy” emoji,Italy was second, and America was third. USSpanish led in sad faces, and more specificallythe “crying” emoji. Brazil was second and

America was third. Moreover, Malaysia led in thethumbs up gesture emoji, and the

UK was second, and America was third.

PAGE | 7 Image Credit: Google Images

FACT:MALAYSIA ISTHE MOST

EMOJI SAVVYCULTURE

EMOJIS ARE NOT JUST USED BYAMERICANS

Image Credit: Google Images

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HOW COMPANIES ARE REACHING OUT TO THEIR TARGET AUDIENCES

People use emojis to communicate their emotions through text, but emojishave also evolved into marketing tools. In the past year, several companieshave created emoji marketing strategies to better connect with their targetaudiences. Companies such as GM, Dove, and Pizza Hut all released emoji

based marketing material last year.

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EMOJI CAMPAIGNS

Emoji Campaign Tips & Tricks:

1) Always use the most up to date and

current platforms (i.e. Instagram, Twitter,

Snapchat, Tumblr).

2) Emojis are popular with smartphone

access, so make your campaigns compatible.

3) Think like the target audience you are

trying to attract.

4) Be SIMPLE. Emojis have replaced text

because consumers like things fast and

understandable.

5) Always TEST your product before

releasing it to the public.

THE EMOJI CAMPAIGNS Emojis have become a new trend and areapparently very useful for individuals andcompanies to communicate messages. Themost widely known emoji campaign andone that was done exceptionally well, wasby GM. According to Dr. Freberg, "they wereat the forefront of using emojis in a newway that sparked a lot more creativity, andeven though the campaign was launchedlast year, people are still talking about ittoday.” GM realized that emojis havebecome the new means of communicationand executed a great strategy.

Craig Daitch is the Social Media and BrandCommunications Senior Manager for GM.

Accompanying the emoijs news release, heand his team also created a new hashtagfor the campaign called #ChevyGoesEmoji.This campaign set out to "reach a brandnew global audience and it succeeded,"

said Daitch. The campaign was a successand we may see more in the future.

When asked Who was the target audienceand Why, Daitch said, " When tasked withrevealing the 2016 Chevrolet Cruze, weknew that the vehicle was filled withcutting-edge technology which aimed tosatisfy the super- connected millennial. Thecar is able to bring smartphones to life in avery new and useful way supporting bothAndroid Auto and Apple CarPlay. Using thisinsight, the team knew the way to get tomillennials centered on bringing the car’sfeatures to light in a fun, relatable way." GMnew its target audience and devised astrategy to reveal the new car as atechnology machine.

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THE EMOJICAMPAIGNS Pizza Hut’s campaign was the use of onesingle emoji “the pizza slice.” Customers asof May 2015 can now just send Pizza Hutrestaurants an emoji pizza slice andreceive their favorite pizza. This campaignwas a success because it was simple andeasy to do.How it works:

When customers go online,they customize their favorite pizza andwhen they send the pizza slice emoji; theirfavorite pizza gets made.

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IMAGE CREDIT: GOOGLE IMAGES

Even Dove created their own campaignusing emojis. The marketing committeerealized that all the women emojisshowcased straight hair. So Dovelaunched their own emoji keyboard ofwomen with natural curly hair. Thekeyboard was created to promote Dove’snew Quench products, which arespecifically for females with naturally curlyhair. Once again, it was a simplecampaign, with a direct audience.

IMAGE CREDIT: GOOGLE IMAGES

IMAGE CREDIT: GOOGLE IMAGES

IMAGE CREDIT: GOOGLE IMAGES

SHOULD EMOJIS BE USED INTHE CLASSROOM ?

Emojis have been used in marketing

campaigns, news releases, the food

industry, and even hair products. The

use of emojis have gone global and

numerous countries have their own

widely used emojis. But can emojis be

used as an educational prompt in the

classroom environment?

According to Dr. Freberg, the answer is

yes. She realized a few years ago that

her students were using emojis to

communicate with each other and

with her in class. She said that emojis

should be used “to express who you are

as a person and how you relate to your

audience. Be fun, personable, and

energetic.”

Here are some FUN Emoji

classroom ideas:

1. Great for Icebreakers

2. Have students respond to certain

questions in emoji

3. Create emoji poetry

4. Have students translate literature

into emoji

5. Create emoji math problems

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Students today are the most technological savvy generation we have ever had. Many studentswere born in the era of the iPhone and have no idea what life was like without technology attheir fingertips. Old style classrooms did not have access to technology but that has changed.

For example, many elementary schools now use tablets as an extension to learning andcomputer labs are essential for every school. So would using emojis in the classroom be agood tool? Yes, because this generation is the most visual dependent generation in history.

The average attention span of most millennials and Gen Zs is eight seconds.

According to Time, 77% of millennials agreed that when they are bored, they reach for theirphone. Incorporating emojis in the classroom can be a very effective teaching tool. Why?

Because that is how students are communicating with each other. If teachers are able tounderstand how their students communicate, maybe they can better understand how theylearn. Emojis have become the new means of communication and can be seen everywhere.

Billboards are now using emojis to get their messages across, commercials are using emojis,marketing campaigns use them, and emojis can be seen in emails now. We have become afast pace visual society and want easy to read content that we can understand quickly.

N O M A D I C | 2 4I N T H E S P O T L I G H TPAGE | 13

90%

SHOULD EMOJIS BE USED INTHE CLASSROOM ?

MILLENNIALS USE THE INTERNET

75%MILLENNIALS ACCESS SOCIAL NETWORK SITES

77%MILLENNIALS REACH FOR THEIR PHONES WHEN BORED

WHY WESHOULD USEEMOJIS

As previouslydiscussed, emojis havebecome so popular intoday’s society andaround the world,

when it comes to howwe communicate.

These simplistic iconshave transformed theway we talk andconnect with ouraudiences. Before

emojis or emoticons,using specific words toexpress yourself onlineor by phone, was theonly way to get yourpoint across. We arebreaching the digitalage where the flow ofinformation and theuse of technologysurround us daily.Using emojis duringcommunication has

made information flowfaster because we are

now a societydependent on visuals.

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C O N C L U S I O N

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Using emojis to communicate, grew in popularity with the increase of smartphones and social

media use. Pewintertnet reported in 2015 that two-thirds of Americans own a smartphone and 97%

of smartphone users, use their phones for text messaging. Smartphone use is highly popular in

young adults and teens but as of 2015, 64% of adults now own smartphones noted Pewinternet.

As discussed, emojis have been used in several marketing campaigns with the most notable being

GM and its 2016 Chevrolet Cruze release. Emojis are not just being used in America, but have found

themselves around the world including: France, Malaysia, Spain, Turkey, Brazil, Australia, and Latin

American Countries. With the rise of emojis and its popularity, teachers have begun utilizing it as a

teaching tool, to better connect with their students and enhance learning. For future reference,

remember the eight reasons why we should use emojis when we communicate with others. Emojis

have become the new means of communication and they are here to stay.

I believe this is only the beginning of emojis. According to ITProPortal, emojis will may one day, find

themselves as password combinations in the future.

REFERENCES

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Adweek | http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/report-92-of-online-consumers-use-emoji-infographic/627521

Buffer | https://blog.bufferapp.com/7-reasons-use-emoticons-writing-social-media-according-science

Convince and Convert | http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-case-studies/world-emoji-day/

Craig Daitch | Quotes , Information, and Statistics retrieved from email conversation

Dove Campaign | http://adage.com/article/digital/dove-launches-curly-haired-emojis-address-

void/301203/

Dr. Karen Freberg | Quotes and Information retrieved from email conversation

Emojis in the Classroom | http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/08/27/classic_first_lines_of_novels_in_emojis_a_quiz.html

Emoji Campaigns | http://visixtwo.com/marketing-campaign-emojis-tips/

Forbes | http://fortune.com/2015/08/19/most-used-emoji-per-state/

GM Campaign |

http://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2015/jun/0622-cruze-emoji.html

IT ProPortal | http://www.itproportal.com/2015/06/16/emojis-could-be-future-passwords/

Pewinternet | http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/

Pizza Hut Campaign | http://www.businessinsider.com/dominos-emoji-pizza-order-2015-5

Scott E. Fahlman | http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2012/09/evolution-emoticon/57029/

Shigetaka Kurita | http://ignition.co/105

SwiftKey | http://cdn.swiftkey.net/USemojidata-SwiftKey.pdf

SwiftKey Global | http://www.scribd.com/doc/262594751/SwiftKey-Emoji-Report

Time | http://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/

Visually | http://visual.ly/kids-past-vs-kids-internet-generation

ALICIA K. WHITTLECOM 7600 | SPRING 2016KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY