Sergio Jiménez Foronda.- Logroñol (EFE).- Emojis serve as a “wake-up call to the overstimulation that is experienced through digital platforms, in which you have to use all the striking resources that you have at hand so that your message gains relevance in all instances,” Pavel Sidorenko, an expert in new narratives and technologies in journalism, told EFE.
Emojis can “give more visibility to the message, regardless of what the communication process is, be it journalism, marketing or advertising.” added Sidorenko (Caracas, Venezuela, 1983), a doctor in journalism and professor of the Master’s Degree in Digital Marketing at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).
“We, in our daily communication process, are always seeking to reinforce our message through bodily expressions”, has indicated Sidorenko, who has defended that the young people of generation Z, born between the end of 1990 and 2010, “redefine the use of emoji in some cases”.
This expert also in advertising, marketing and corporate communication has highlighted that there has been a redefinition of the emoji by these young people, but “it is not a pictographic resource that actively participates in their conversations, they use more, for example, the ‘sticker'”.
“However, the emoji is part of a more common conversation for previous generations,” he said.
The emoji, which celebrated its world day on the 17th, “is part of that ecosystem of pictographic resources such as the ‘gif’ and the ‘sticker'”.
For him, “each generation appropriates one resource or another. For example, the ‘gif’ is very discredited in the field of generation Z and it is interesting to see how each segment of the public is identifying with some resources”.
In a file image (07/17/2022), young people using emojis in their conversations. EFE/Raquel Manzanares.
EMOJIS, STICKERS Y GIF
He stressed that “emojis have also evolved into ‘stickers’ and ‘gif’; so it will continue to be present and work”, despite the fact that the young people of generation Z, “in global terms, have an attitude of contempt towards everything that comes from behind”.
“They are a segment that has wanted to differentiate itself from the rest and if everyone uses the emoji, they are not going to use it”, and “if everyone speaks through WhatsApp, they are going to use another resource, such as Instagram direct messages”, he specified.
He has pointed out that those who are part of generation Z, “since they have had access to this resource (of emojis), use it according to their convenience and interests, hence the substitution of meaning” because, for example, “it is funnier to emulate or compare the eggplant emoji to a penis than to use the eggplant emoji literally.”
However, “in segments like in previous generations, the emoji is used for what it is, that reinforcement of expression or nuance in a message that cannot be given in any other way to the written word,” he concluded.