Emoticons: Useful Tool or Totally Uncool?

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Emoticons: Useful Tool or Totally Uncool?

People all over the world are using emoticons and emojis to text, chat, and tweet (Check out ones of Arrested Development and see what Katy Perry did with ‘em!). From celebrities to coworkers to yes, even Mom and Dad, it sometimes seems everyone is using ‘em – for everything. Indeed, these little images have become part and parcel to virtual communication, and are transforming the way we engage with one another and interact online.

The emoticon, a portmanteau fusing the words “emotion” and “icon” together, is a cast of characters that come together to make smiley faces* displaying various facial expressions. (Here’s a cute video showing you how they translate from text to real life.) Emoticons were popularized in the early 90’s by users of AIMand other instant messengers available at the time.

More diverse in form, emojis, Japanese for picture word, span the gamut from facial expressions to rainclouds to an almost limitless variety of activities and objects. Emojis came into being in ’95, whenShigetaka Kurita turned the Japanese equivalent to emoticons, called kaomoji, into pictorial icons.

As fun as these images are, their use has massive implications. So what else is there to know about the pictorial icon frenzy?

Imagine: big, smiley emoticon

What do we do without hand gestures, facial expressions, volume, pitch, and intonation? The non-verbal part of communication is what helps us interpret the situations and conversations that we experience. (It is said that nonverbal communication represents two-thirds of all communication.) By using emoticons/emojis, someone typing rather than speaking can still demonstrate or evoke the deeper meaning of their written words. For example, greeting someone with a smiley face in the morning (“Hi J”) can indicate your happiness beyond the greeting itself. And this has a tangible effect on engagement rates; Using emoticons can get people to comply or respond to their messages better—no joke, Facebook commissioned a study.

http://www.pdpics.com/

Imagine: sad, unhappy, and even dastardly emoticon

“But then a darker side emerged.” On the other hand, emoticons can also be used to artificially evoke certain feelings, or even betray trust. For example, a favorite tool of the passive aggressive is the famous “smiley face” paired with a message that contains an ambiguously nasty tone. With such a pairing, users hope that the emoticon will diffuse the nature of their message, or at least confuse the receiver, ensuring that no retaliation will be made. (Let’s be honest, how many times have we all employed that method?)

On top of that, there is growing concern that messaging and the use of emoticons and emojis is handicapping future generations’ ability to hold face-to-face conversations. Time magazine quotes MIT psychologist Sherry Turkle, “The complexity and messiness of human communication gets shortchanged. Those things are what lead to better relationships."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maroonsurreal/6310667689/

Imagine: confused, confuzzled emoticon

I think we can see the writing on the wall from a Teens' Social Media and Privacy focus group—where a 17-year-old girl talking about Snapchat, the photo messaging app, says, “It's just kind of fun. Because it's like texting, but you get to use your face as the emoticon instead of an actual emoticon.”
As the old adage goes, “What came first—the emoticon or your face?” Oh wait… that’s not it... :P

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67003333@N02/8517013429/

So when do you use emoticons or emojis? Tweet us your favorite!! Mine is the animated running man or the girl in the namaste pose.

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*Little-known fact: The original “yellow smiley” was designed 50 years ago by Harvey Ross Ball, an American graphic artist. He was commissioned to create a graphic to raise morale among the employees of an insurance company that had just undergone a series of difficult mergers and acquisitions