Use of Emoji as an Exuberant form of Social Interaction in Memes

Abstract

In technological researches and digital communication media the usage of social media has become the trending topic because of the increase in use of the social media. To humanize a text message and to give meaning to the written part, the trend of using different emoji is being used as a new form of language used in social media. The icons that show up on a keyboard and can be used in messaging on the digital media for communication are known as emoji. Emoji are the latest form of emoticons that are used on all the smart devices by people at different platforms for conveying meaningful text messages. The present research will explore the use of emoji in the modern era as an exuberant form of social interaction in memes. In written text, social, psychological and linguistic aspects with an amalgamation of non-linguistics cues can also transfer emotions through memes. This is a qualitative research, which employs a descriptive method. It can be said that, emoji in a word-based digital communication accelerates the approaches’ efficiency and differs with the person’s personality and the societal framework. For this social semiotics theory by Halliday (1978) has been used. This will help in determining the intention of the user where he decides what he wants to convey. This research will also help researchers to look at emoji from a different and creative aspect by looking at its use in different context. Furthermore, it will pave the way for them to study emoji as an essential part of memes.