Often, people use ‘Emoticon’ and ‘Emojis’ in an interchangeable way, but they fail to miss that there is actually a fundamental difference between these two.
Emoticons, which came into existence first, refers to the pictorial depiction (comprising of letters, numbers and punctuation marks)of expressions, like J,L, K, {^_^}, and similar ones.
Whereas, an Emoji can be referred as the advanced, elaborated and more interactive version of the Emoticons, which depicts all types of expressions, as well as communicate objects, weather, and more through the use of images only.
Rise Of Emojis
With the increase of smartphones, the communication sphere started to change, and this gave rise to the popularity of Emojis in communication. These unleashed our ability to carry out a conversation through using images only, thus blowing our minds. The radical shift in communication in the ever-evolving digital world today can be attributed to the introduction of the Emojis.
Whether it is mobile messaging platforms, as well as popular social media networks, Emojis have become an indispensable part of communication, encompassing all genres, spheres of communiqué. And it is no longer the teenagers who sway by the cute Emojis, but this variable has reached mainstream communication.
How People Are Adapting To The Emoji-based Communication
Moving beyond the simple smiley face, Emojis, in the present times are being used to convey all types of emotions and extra meanings, all within the message. The 21st-century digital user is no longer satisfied with using the language-based words to convey their message; they are in need of something dramatically interactive and animated, and signalling, which is duly fulfilled by the Emojis.
Taking for example, based on a recent survey, the most used Emoji, which is a perfect representation of the ways we communicate in our everyday digital lives, is: “laughing face with tears of joy” (). In fact, Twitter sees a high usage of this particular Emoji, whether it relates to a TV comedy programming or response to a particular event.
Emojis – Are They More Powerful Than Words?
Their impact is so potent, that one can argue that Emojis are becoming and more and more powerful tools than words, day by day. This can be assessed by the conception that - An emotion, which is depicted using sentence full of 5-6 words, now can be expressed using a single Emoji (one that is efficiently represented by the already mentioned Emoji - “laughing face with tears of joy”). The immediate emotional response, evoked by an Emoji, can be lost using a string of words. This is why, people are adapting to digital age communication via a large library of Emojis, enabled by using cute Emoji keyboard.
We are constantly moving towards, and living in an age of communication which is represented by the signs of animated images. These won’t replace the literary substance and gravity of the languages, but tools like Google keyboard and other keyboards with Emojis fills a gap in the digital communication, also bringing a new dimension to how we interact and convey.
