If you don’t use emojis in your correspondence, they may not make much sense. Seven in 10 Americans believe that unless a message contains an emoji, it is “incomplete,” according to a new survey ahead of World Emoji Day Sunday.
The study of Duolingo and Slack found that Americans are more likely to miss emoji-less texts or messages, compared to global respondents (71% vs. 57%). At the same time, a quarter of Americans are confused about the difference between the Loudly Crying emoji and Face With Tears Of Joy. For example, when the Crying Loud emoji was shown, 25% said they use it to show that they are “crying tears of joy”, which was the same number as those who selected “sobs/cry upset”.
And while the emojis look the same, respondents should be careful in case they seem to smile at an inappropriate time, the study advised.
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But there are also other emojis that can cause confusion. Thirty-eight percent of US respondents said the skull emoji represents death, but a similar number (34%) said they use it to show that something is so funny, such as being “dead” with laughter.
Emojis in the workplace
With a plethora of possible meanings associated with emojis, some of which have multiple meanings depending on context, one may wonder if emojis belong in the workplace, but the research showed that there are still a wide range of benefits.
Fifty-eight percent of workers surveyed worldwide said using emojis at work allows them to communicate more nuance with fewer words, and 55% said using emojis can speed up communication in the workplace.
This was notably higher in the US: 69% of US respondents said emojis allowed them to communicate in a more nuanced way, while 67% said it speeded up communication.
Furthermore, 67% of global respondents feel closer and more connected in a conversation when they message someone who understands the emoji they are using.
Globally, respondents are three times more likely to always use emojis when messaging their colleagues compared to their boss (21% vs 7%). Even then, some emojis are off limits — the Kiss Mark and the Tongue emojis were the top two to avoid sending a boss or co-worker.
The Poop emoji is third on a list of emojis you shouldn’t send to your boss, while the eggplant is third for not sending to a coworker.
And while the eggplant may be misunderstood by a colleague, a fifth of US respondents (21%) said the eggplant is nothing more than a literal representation of the fruit. That said, 34% of Americans surveyed said they use the eggplant to show they’re feeling “flirty,” and 14% admit they’ve confused the meaning of that particular emoji.
In general, younger generations worldwide were more likely to say that an emoji they sent was misunderstood by the recipient: 31% of Gen Z and 24% of Millennials.
Worldwide emoji usage
The study also looked at how the use and meaning of emojis in the workplace might differ in different countries. For global companies, the results showed that emojis can be an easy source of miscommunication — as the meanings can vary widely depending on where a person comes from.
Globally, when presented with the Money With Wings emoji, respondents were divided on whether it represented a loss of money or an influx of money. This differed per country. For example, respondents from Japan were much more likely to select “money loss” (59%) — compared to just 7% who said it was an influx, the report said.
When viewing Face Throwing A Kiss, US respondents were slightly more likely to use it in a romantic than platonic way (34% vs. 26%), as were Indian respondents (52% vs. 27%). Japan was the opposite: three in ten Japanese respondents use the emoji in a platonic sense, compared to 16% who use it romantically.
The Slightly Smiling Face may not be as positive as some people think. While “feeling happy” (38%) and “overall positivity” (39%) were the most commonly used emojis worldwide, many people also use them to show “deep annoyance and/or mistrust” (14%).
This more negative interpretation was more common in specific countries, including the US, where that choice had a fifth of the vote. In countries such as Japan (5%), South Korea (6%) and Canada (8%).
“Using emojis at work goes beyond self-expression, inclusion and culture, and also impacts efficiency,” said Olivia Grace, senior director of product management at Slack. “Visual representation of tasks such as team polls and sentiments like ‘I have this, I see it, I’m working on it,” are much easier to scan quickly than their written counterparts.”
Grace added that “If you see” [the Eyes emoji] or a [Green Checkmark emoji] you’ll know what it means faster than reading through multiple ‘I vote for…’ or ‘I can work on it if no one else can…’ messages.”
Meanwhile, get ready for more: 31 new emojis are scheduled for release in the coming months by Emojipedia† They include a trembling face, two pushing hands, pink, light blue and gray hearts, as well as a jellyfish and a hair picker.
Duolingo and Slack said this random double opt-in survey of 9,400 hybrid office workers between June 15 and 27 was evenly distributed across the US, UK, Canada, France, Japan, China, Singapore, India, Germany, South Korea and Australia. , 2022.
