Member Article

Are Emojis Indispensable for Messaging Apps?

Who doesn’t use these tiny smileys’ or emojis while texting someone?? Well!!! The answer is- Everyone.

These teeny tiny icons come in multiple shapes, expressions and colors- smiley faces, winking eyes, hearts and others ranging from an image of a house, trees to vehicles and many more. You get an emoji in messaging apps alternative to your mood or activity. We use them as complementary to the text used or simply reply by sending a fitting icon.

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I believe this is undoubtedly the most convenient mode of texting someone and definitely fits our busy schedule. Especially for teenagers and young adults who are always running. They prefer to reply to a text with an image icon rather than compose a few worded sentences.

However, they are gradually replacing written words and the personal touch effect is fast getting diminished, courtesy these tiny expression icons.

Now let us take a few steps back into the history of these icons.

History of emojis and emoticons in messangers

It is believed that the first documented use of smiles dates back to the year of 1982, proposed by Scott Fahlman. They used to be in the shape of combined punctuations such as “:-)”, “:-(”.

Remember them???

They have travelled a long way and presently they got a completely different physical identity. Today the emojis are more lifelike and vibrant.

The present emoticons require less investment of texts and with the rising popularity of social media, the text character counts have shrunk as well. These pictorial representations have turned up as the popular alternates for expressing feelings, emerging as a new mode of communication.

The list is getting updated on a regular basis and all the big brands such as Apple and Google keeps on adding new emojis in messaging applications.

The 2017 list has been finalized and 69 new items are added to the list.

So what are the reasons behind their rising popularity??

There are solid reasons why these icons outshine the text format. Allow me to brief the points supporting their continuous rise.

• Increase acceptance and raise your popularity in social media- Analysis on 31 million tweets and half a million Facebook posts report that positive icons can be a social media status marker. Many socialites tend to posts using emojis which uncovers this fact that there is a direct link between emoticon use and social power.
• Near human face like resemblance- When you look at a smile emoticon, you subconsciously end up smiling. Scientists have discovered in their studies that when we look at a smiley face online our brain reacts in a similar way if we happen to look at a smiling face.
• Used in business settings and marketing- Initially, it was considered unprofessional to include a smiley in official emails. Gradually the outlook of the young corporate is changing and using small emojis at the end of any sentence has become quite a trend.
• Acceptance level for harsh criticisms- If you receive a negative comment from your senior followed by a positive icon, the feel good factor motivates you to address the mistakes immediately. But a negative icon can exert an opposite impact on the recipient.
• Increase friendliness- Use of emoticons can make you appear more friendly and approachable. Also, any important news presented in the form of an emoji raises your retention power and you easily recall the particular news.
• Create greater impact than words- Often words fail to clearly reveal what you actually intend to express on the email. Either you have to choose a complex phrase or a lengthy sentence. It is highly likely that your message will get misinterpreted. But if you compose the mail, however negative the words used may sound a tiny positive smiley can make all the difference required.
• Correlations with real-life happiness- These tiny icons are not just funny to use but can also make your conversation really funny and engaging.

Summing Up

Emojis have turned up as the latest mode of communication allowing users to express aptly a whole range of emotions through a single pictorial alternative. We all enjoy using such icons when engaging in conversations with our friends.

But if you want my opinion, then it lacks the feel of personal touch to the message or the conversation.

I mean imagine your lover sending you just the heart icon to express his love for you instead of describing in words. Impersonal isn’t it??? However, the public demand is definitely boosting up messaging emojis’ in mobile apps’ popularity and they are likely to stay for a very long time.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mary Smith .