06
Emojis on Different Communication Platforms Across Different Cultures
ROLE: RESEARCHER
January 2021 - May 2021
Project completed in Cornell University with Macy Hung, Tim Lu, Ben Pichel, Stephanie Tom, Nina Xie, Xuanpu Zhang
Instructor: Professor Susan Fussell
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Many people around the world use emojis to express themselves and add connotation to their text messages. Since emojis are used worldwide, there is potential for the development of different cultural norms and interpretations within different countries. Our group has set out to compare how East Asian international students at Cornell use and interpret emojis in contrast to North American students. By taking a look at cultural, geographical, and demographic factors, our study focuses on comparing the differences between the two by concentrating on emoji usage from messaging platforms that are specific to both countries.
EMOJI COMPREHENSION
Analysis was conducted by going through the responses to the pair of interpretation questions designed for each of the 10 selected emojis. Reflections focused on comparing interpretations of single emojis without context and emojis with context, as well as finding cultural differences on emoji comprehension between the North America and East Asia groups.
This was interpreted as “to laugh at something” by 56.52% of the responses, in which 53.97% were North American and 75% were East Asian responses. This interpretation received percentages significantly higher than those of “to laugh at someone” or “to lighten up a sentence.”
"Since you’re allergic to cheese, here’s some cheese to cheer you up 😂"
47.5%
adding a sense of humor to the whole sentence
42.5%
putting emphasis on teasing the other person
10%
contributing to the sense of mocking the other person in a negative way
This received evenly split responses to its interpretation - 22.97% “to express happiness,” 28.38% “to express sarcasm,” 27.03% “to add a positive tone to a neutral statement,” and 13.51% “to add a level of aggression.” It was interesting to see how this smiling emoji raised negative feelings of sarcasm and aggression, perhaps because people associated it with a context in which they personally used this emoji without intending the smiley face. Dividing the responses into cultural groups, we found that 44.44% and 27.78% of the East Asian responses were on sarcasm and aggression respectively, whereas those percentages for North American responses were lower at 25.40% and 11.11%. The data shows that more East Asians tend to interpret this emoji negatively.
"I told you not to touch anything, I guess bad things happen when you don’t listen 🙂."
57.5%
adding a passive aggressive tone to the sentence
37.5%
adding a sarcastic tone to the sentence
5%
positive interpretation
26.74% of responses interpreted it “to show playfulness,” 18.60% “to express sarcasm,” 16.28 “to express the feeling of doing something that is not expected,” 11.63% “to show confusion,” 10.47% “to tease someone,” 10.47% “to add a level of aggression,” and a few more minor ones. It was shared by both the North American and East Asian groups that most of the responses were split across playfulness, sarcasm, and unexpectedness.
"I think I missed my rent payment, I love being an adult 🙃."
62.5%
adding a sarcastic tone to the sentence
17.5%
being used in a playful manner
This had 37.89% of the responses saying it could be used “to express goofiness,” 30.53% “to show playfulness,” and 12.63% “to express being intoxicated.”These three options received the highest points across both cultural groups.
"I don’t think I did question 1 correctly even though I went through all lecture slides 🤪wanted to check w/ u for that."
42.5%
adding a goofy tone to the sentence
25%
putting emphasis on being confused
3.16%
to express confusion
This received 25.74% responses interpreting it as “to whimper,” 19.80% “to ask for help,” 14.85% “for pretending to be pitiful,” 12.87% “to express sadness,” 10.89% “to express sympathy,” 9.90% “to show desperation,” and 5.94% “to be cute,” with the same pattern spanning across both cultural groups. Among the popular interpretations, “to ask for help” seemed to be an extension of what the emoji physically shows, where people probably related it to their own experience when they used it to ask for help before.
"Can you help me with my hw pleaseee 🥺."
32.5%
being used to induce sympathy
25%
being used to induce pity
25%
adding a whimpering tone to the sentence
This was interpreted very negatively, with 28.26% “express[ing] cringing,” 25.00% “to show awkwardness,” 22.83% “to express being anxious,” and 17.39% “to show being nervous.” Many participants selected more than one choice, meaning that they interpreted this emoji in many different ways. Among the other interpretations, “to express the feeling of shook” was chosen only by North Americans and “to express chuckling” was chosen only by East Asians.
"Sorry I can’t come to dinner tonight. I have so much work to do 😬."
51.28%
adding a semantic in line with ‘hope it’s OK’ to the sentence
28.21%
adding an anxious tone to the sentence
15.38%
adding an awkward tone to the sentence
32.53% of responses picked it “to show interest in something or someone,” 26.51% “to keep an eye out,” 18.07% “to direct someone’s attention to something,” and 12.05% “to show playfulness.” Although this emoji is literally a pair of eyes, people related it to when they are looking at something or someone and they are interested.
"👀Our team social will be Saturday at 7pm this week."
56.41%
telling the recipient to keep an eye out
This was interpreted in 22.58% of responses as “to show praying,” 20.16% “to express being hopeful,” 16.13% “to show pleading,” 15.32% “to show appreciation,” and 13.71% “to worship.” There was no significant cultural variation found between the North American and East Asiam groups. As there were many interpretations chosen, we were hoping context would clarify people’s thoughts on this emoji.
"So glad to hear that 🙏."
28.21%
adding an appreciative tone to the sentence
23.08%
adding a semantic to the sentence in line with ‘thank god’
This was perceived very positively with 49.09% of the responses picking it “to show appreciation” and 32.73% “to express being helpful,” with both cultural groups sharing the same pattern.
"Would anyone please cover my shift from 4:30-9 today? It would be a huge help 😇"
76.92%
Adding an appreciative tone to the sentence
27.72% of the responses on “to express being in shock,” 25.74% “to express embarrassment,” 19.80% “to show surprise,” 17.82% “to express disbelief.” Responses for both culture groups had similar compositions where they almost evenly split among every option.
"Did you see the latest announcement? Seems so serious 😳"
58.97%
being used to express shock
28.21%
adding a surprised tone to the sentence