EVERY year, Adobe produces a global trend report as part of Adobe's Future of Creativity research series, which explores how creativity is changing around the world. Aiming to understand the role and impact of emoji in digital communication, the study examines the importance of emoji across a variety of areas such as self-expression and identity; diversity, equity and inclusion; dating and relationships; workplace communications and more.
The Future of Creativity: 2022 Global Emoji Trend report was conducted in March – April 2022 with 10,000 frequent emoji users across the seven global markets: The United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Australia and South Korea.
GLOBAL TREND
Over half of global users have actively increased their emoji use over the past 12 months, with nearly all users (75pc) sending up to 50 emoji in their text or online messaging a day. The findings emphasised on the importance of new inclusive emoji in the Unicode 15.0 release in September such as the maracas, flute, khanda, hair pick and folding hand fan.
"Emoji have become a favourite form of creative self-expression for people everywhere," said Adobe's computer scientist and Adobe representative on the Unicode Emoji subcommittee, Kamile Demir, adding that as the creative industry leader and a member of the Unicode Consortium, the company recognise "the potential for emoji to promote inclusivity, spark cultural conversations and even positively impact mental health".
This fun, fast and friendly form of communication has transformed the way global users express themselves and continues to push the boundaries on how emoji users bridge conversations across age, race, culture and beyond.
Emoji are most used by global users to communicate across language barriers (92pc), express themselves (91pc) and an easier alternative to share thoughts and ideas (89pc). Globally, male emoji users (54pc) are significantly more likely than females (47pc) to respond to a message if it contains an emoji with text (75pc) and mobile (56pc) messages being the top channels of choice when using emoji.
Emoji are most used by global users to communicate with friends (80pc), significant others/partner (51pc) and siblings (41pc).
EMOTIONS AND EMOJI
The study found emoji play a vital role in our daily lives. From boosting mental health to improving workplace efficiency, emoji users see significant benefits from including emoji in their digital messages.
Ninety-one per cent of global users use emoji to lighten the mood and show support for the people/person they are communicating with. While two thirds (67pc) lean on emoji use when they have difficulties expressing their emotions in words.
According to Adobe's typeface designer and font developer Paul D. Hunt, "Our findings reveal the importance of emoji across all of our digital conversations. As a visual form of communication, emoji help fill the emotional gaps when representing ourselves online and help us communicate our personal identities, thoughts and feelings in ways words often cannot".
While nearly all (92pc) of global users use emoji to communicate across language barriers, they are also used as a powerful emotional tool.
Love (73pc) and happiness (71pc) are the top emotions global emoji users express using emotions. Overall, female emoji users globally are more likely to express specific emotions with emoji than male users.
More than half (58pc) of global users believe using an emoji in digital communications has improved their overall emotions and mental health. Over half of male users (59pc) and over half female users (56pc) use emoji in their digital communications has improved their mental health.
DECODING THE EMOJI LANGUAGE
There is an extensive selection of emoji to use, and new emoji are constantly released on keyboards all over the globe, but the top five most used emoji are similar globally. Face with tears of joy is consistently the top emoji of both male and female users globally. Male emoji users' second favourite is thumbs up and females second favourite is rolling on the floor laughing.
Eighty per cent of the respondents agreed that emoji should only be used when you fully understand them, and more than half (78pc) of global emoji users feel confident they're up to date on the meaning of the latest emoji and use them correctly.
Despite the prolific use of emoji, there is a strong consumer desire to see more diverse and inclusive emoji on the keyboard. Most global emoji users agree that emoji should continue to strive for a more inclusive representation of users (83pc), with only half of the globe (57pc) feeling their identity is adequately reflected in current emoji options.
Over half (60 pc) of global users are likely to customise an emoji to better reflect their personal appearance, while 62 per cent wish they had more emoji customisation options to better reflect themselves.
When asked what changes users would like to see, hairstyle or colour (48pc), eye colour (38pc), accessories and body type (38pc) are the top customisation options users want.
While global users do believe inclusivity for emoji has improved, age (38pc), culture (35pc) and race/ethnicity (35pc) are the top emoji categories that users want to see inclusion expand in.
EMOJI ROLE IN ROMANTIC IMPRESSION
Emoji make a lasting romantic impression. For global emoji users interested in flirting with or dating someone they're talking to, 71 per cent believe using an emoji in conversation is a must when flirting.
Not only that emoji is seen as an indicator of relationship success, but it also influences whether a second or third date is in the future. Over half (62pc) of global users assume their relationship with someone is going well if they use more emoji when talking to each other, while 49 per cent are more likely to have a second or third date with someone who communicates using emoji.
More than half (58 per cent) agreed they are more likely to use even more emoji when communicating with someone they're interested in flirting with or dating with 58 per cent revealing they feel more comfortable expressing their feelings through emoji to someone they are interested in.
THE FUTURE OF EMOJI
The future of emoji is already unfolding in new and creative ways, from purchasing products and making payments to creating exclusive online usernames and websites. Over half of the global emoji users (55pc) are more willing to buy an item using an emoji.
The majority of global users are open to new ways of using emoji, such as confirming attendance at an event (66pc), sending or receiving payments (41pc) and communicating with a doctor (39pc).