Overview

• Researchers asked 260 US adults aged 23 to 67 to evaluate 15 hypothetical chat excerpts and rate partner responsiveness with or without emojis.
• Participants reported that messages featuring emojis felt more emotionally nuanced and vivid, helping to prevent miscommunication.
• The positive effects emerged equally for face-based and non-face symbols, indicating that simple emoji presence drives stronger connections.
• Authors caution that reliance on imagined conversations, one-sided responses and recruitment via a paid online panel may limit real-world applicability.
• The Unicode Consortium recently expanded the emoji library with climate and environment-themed icons and continues to review public proposals for new symbols.