Does a text feel naked without an emoji?

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Four in 10 Americans believe a text feels naked without an emoji, according to new research.

The survey of 2,000 Americans (aged 21+) revealed 41% of respondents believe a message needs to include an emoji to be complete.

Younger respondents were most likely to agree with this statement: 70% of Gen Z said emoji needed to be included within a message, compared to 46% of Gen X.

But messages shouldn’t consist solely of emoji, as 32% of respondents said it’s a “conversation killer.”

Conducted by Talker Research ahead of World Emoji Day on July 17, the survey revealed 58% of respondents believe emoji improve how we talk to each other.

This is in line with a shift in the cultural lexicon, wherein emoji now are now used to represent emotions people have trouble expressing in words. With that, brands are experimenting with how they can use emoji to communicate, incorporating them into campaigns to ensure they’re “speaking” this new form of language.

In recognition of the growing role that emoji have in our shared language, Smirnoff has created their own version of the “woman dancing” emoji (💃🏽) and have worked to bring it to life.

Smirnoff’s (https://www.smirnoff.com/en-us) latest campaign has the “emoji,” named Spicy Tam, coming off screens and into the real world, donning her iconic red dress and signature pose.

While people might not be able to bring their favorite emoji to life anytime soon, results found they do want even more from their emoji experience.

With the upcoming release of Apple’s iOS 18, which will allow users to create custom emojis using the “Genmoji” feature, respondents were asked if they’d be interested in creating their own emojis.

Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed would like to invent an emoji — and they were asked to share what these new emoji would look like.

Notable responses include a “little witch” emoji, a skull with heart eyes emoji and an upside-down emoji with a cowboy hat — while someone else said they’d appreciate “various cocktail emojis.”

The survey revealed that 58% of emoji users prefer happy emoji, such as smiling or laughing faces, while 15% gravitate toward sweeter emoji such as hearts or kisses.

Some respondents (4%) lean toward adding some flavor into their chats by choosing more spicy emoji such as the smirking face or the dancing woman.

Regardless of their preference, with only 5% of respondents admitting they don’t use emoji in their daily conversations — it looks like this form of communication is here to stay.

MOST FREQUENTLY USED EMOJI

Smiling face (🙂) — 23%
Red heart (❤️) — 21%
Thumbs up (👍) — 18%
Rolling on the floor laughing (🤣) — 17%
Face with tears of joy (😂) — 14%
Kissing face (😘) — 12%
Smiley face with heart eyes (😍) — 12%
Grinning face with smiling eyes (😁) — 9%
Blushing face with hearts (🥰) — 9%
Touching hands (prayer, high five, etc.) (🙏) — 8%

Survey methodology

This random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 general population Americans was fielded between June 28 and July 2, 2024. Conducted by Market Research company Talker Research.

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