Repurposing Emoji for Personalised Communication - Why 🍕 Means "I Love You"

Explore the fascinating world of personalized emoji usage in digital communication through this 20-minute conference talk from the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Delve into the research findings of Sarah Wiseman and Sandy J. J. Gould, who challenge the notion of emoji as a universal language by revealing how these digital icons are repurposed for intimate and secretive communication between close partners, family members, and friends. Discover the concept of "emoji affordance" and the various reasons behind emoji selection for personalized meanings. Examine how this repurposing phenomenon impacts tasks such as emoji-based sentiment analysis and consider its implications for understanding modern digital communication patterns.