A review of the argument in "The Emoji's Strange Power" article

1. “THE EMOJI’S
STRANGE
POWER”
BY KATY STEINMETZ
TIME MAGAZINE JULY 17, 2104
SAMPLE MEDIUM PROJECT

2. CLAIM
Emojis restore context
that is lost now that we
communicate more
electronically than face to
face.
Emojis enhance
relationships
Expressing ideas solely
through Emojis is
changing our culture and
portraying a new reality
for communication

3. STEP 3:
COMMUNICATION
Who is the user/audience?
• Everyone
How does communication happen?
• 250 images
• Alphanumeric-size graphics used around the world
What else is shared?
• Feelings
• Thoughts
What is unique to this medium?
• Icon for objects/images for emotions/symbols
How is sight and sound used in your medium?
• Emoji s use pictures but no sound

4. REASONS AND EVIDENCE
Provide context:
“In 1982, the computer-science staff at Carnegie Mellon
had taken to bantering on online discussion boards, but
jokes often failed to translate. To prevent the long
tirades that resulted from the misunderstandings,
research professor Scott Fahlman suggested that
sarcastic messages be labeled with a smiley sign like
this :-) . It worked, and soon after came the displeased :-
( , the winky ;-) and the embarrassed XD.”
Emotions!

5. REASONS AND EVIDENCE
Context helps enhance digital communication and relationships:
Used more if emotions clear
“Keltner found that the richer the
array of emotions expressed, the
happier and healthier users tended
to be.”

6. REASONS AND EVIDENCE
Expressing ideas solely through Emojis is changing our
culture and portraying a new reality for communication:
Emoji only network
Racially diverse emojis
Ad campaigns

7. TRUTH
Humans have a desire for emotional expression
The kind of emoji you use regularly reveals something about
you!
Emoji means big business
• Noun project
• Emojli, British Company- “emoji-only social network”
• Fred Benenson – author of emoji only Moby Dick

8. LIMITATIONS
• Can be vague - People use image when the emotion it
expresses is clear
• Dacher Keltner and Matt Jones developed a set of stickers
based on Chalres Darwin’s descriptions of human emotions
• “Context can complicate even the simplest smiley face”
• “No standard catalog of emoji”
• 1,500 Emoji identified by Unicode vs. 250,000 words in
English
• Standard emoji sets are not ethnically diverse
• Bonus – SNL clip

9. METAPHOR
(I CREATED THIS SINCE IT IS NOT
IN THE ARTICLE)
Emojis are a cat’s tail.
They let you know the
emotion of the sender.
Like a cat’s tail, they
reflect when someone is
happy, scared, confused,
or angry. However, like
the cat’s tail, sometimes
they are a little hard to
read.