Emojis: The New Language of Social Media

 

 

 

 

Have you ever thought about the way you communicate on social media? Not only do users speak in slang terms such as "lol" and "brb", but the emoji has become a common way for people to talk between each other and express how they're feeling with easy and creative terms. Social media has grown enormously since the advancement of the internet, and is now the prime source for connectivity. To my surprise, the emoji did not become popular in the U.S. until Apple fully supported it on their iOS 5 update for Iphones in 2011. In just 6 years, a new way of communicating has been intertwined into our everyday lives, and emojis can be found on almost all new cellular device and social media keyboards.

This is Keith Broni, the world's first emoji translator. He earned his master's degree in business psychology from University College London and truly understands the new importance of business and consumer relationships involving emojis. He believes that if people on social media, especially businesses, use emoji's the wrong way, it could end in embarrassment or give the wrong message. Certain emoji's have different connotations in different cultures, and some have even adopted a completely different meaning than what they were intended to represent. He is hired by marketing firms all over the world to assess the meaning and interpretations of emoji's for businesses on their social networking sites.



 Today, brands are paying special attention to emojis generated by celebrities. Recently Steph Curry's emoji app became the number one app, and gained large popularity as well as emoji apps by Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber. To the left is the "Kimoji" that was created by Kim Kardashian, which has ever since continued to gain popularity. Branding is a critical role for celebrities, and the new emoji representation of them creates just that. Fans are having a greater sense of group belonging, and the emojis even give fans the opportunity to feel close to their favorite celebrity. Emoji apps are also supporting the idea of "virtually free" advertising. Linda Ong, founder of TruthCo. (a branding analytics consultancy), says that emojis are extending from celebrities to businesses, and that it would be smart for people to move toward the trend of building relationships with the use of emojis. They are becoming the new and innovative trend for advertising and building brands.











Sources:
https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2016/10/the-surprising-history-of-emojis/
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/17/meet-a-guy-who-makes-a-living-translating-emojis.html
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/276924