Back in the day, people didn’t have a way to represent physical actions in writing; they could only describe them. But now, to express emotions, states of mind, and other nonverbal acts, Facebook users have access to hundreds of emoticons. People can easily respond to events or threads they are excited about with emoticons or emojis that convey excitement or happiness 😊. This also applies when sharing sad 😢 or painful posts.
Traditionally, we express moods through facial expressions and gestures 😊🙁. This means that face-to-face communication makes it easier for people to understand each other’s feelings or reactions to a subject. Bringing that same context into written communication requires creativity. There’s an emoji for love ❤️, hate 😡, disapproval 👎, approval 👍, hugs 🤗, blushing 😊, etc. When used in chats or posts, these emojis help others interpret the message being conveyed.
Emoticons and emojis are also used to determine the general mood of a person writing a post or the mood conveyed by the post itself. For example: 😦 sad; 🙂 happy; 😉 wink; etc.
Example:
Musa: “Would be done with exams tomorrow” { 🙂 Feeling excited}
Tunde: “I’m yet to find my phone” { 😦 Feeling sad }
These posts are entirely different, and the differences are reflected in the choice of emojis used. While the first post uses an emoji that shows excitement, the second one conveys a sad mood.
Another new development is the new meanings associated with words like tags, threads, posts, status, poke, request, follow, unfollow, followers, wall, etc.
In Nigerian languages like Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa, emojis are also becoming popular in social media interactions.
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