Characterising the inventive appropriation of emoji as relationally meaningful in mediated close personal relationships

Abstract

Emoji are two-dimensional pictographs that were originally designed to convey emotion between participants in text-based conversation. This paper draws on interview data to identify ways in which emoji have been appropriated in pursuit of relationally meaningful behaviours in contemporary messaging applications. We suggest that the presence of appropriable tools like emoji might influence the selection of a communication channel for particular types of mediated conversation.