A Study of Emoticon Use in Instant Messaging from Smartphone

Instant messaging (IM) has become one of the most popular modes of instantaneous electronic communication mediums throughout the world for users. A unique feature of IM on the smartphone is its choice of text-based, graphical or animated emoticons that express emotion and intentions. Many studies have been conducted on computer mediated communication (CMC), IM and emoticons, but little is known specifically about the study of emoticons in IM on the smartphone. The goal of this study was to understand how emoticons are used in IM on the smartphone and to investigate the inconsistent results of previous research. Thus, this study explored the frequency and variety of emoticon usage as well as the user traits based on emoticon types, relationships between users, availability of computer keyboards, and user emotional states in IM on the smartphone. The corresponding suggestions provided by this study would help to increase the understanding of emoticon usage and the designing of future emoticons in IM on the smartphone.