Skip to content

Emoticon survey results

July 10, 2007 on 11:11 am | In News | 57 Comments

In anticipation of the 25th anniversary of the Emoticon, we invited Yahoo! Messenger users to take part in a survey about how they use emoticons. Below are some highlights of the sometimes surprising but always entertaining answers we received from the 40,000 respondents. Can you relate?

“Emoti-sential” – 82% of those who use Yahoo! Messenger daily use emoticons in their instant messaging (IM) conversations.

Express Yourself – The majority of survey respondents say that they best express themselves in IM using emoticons. Nearly two-thirds (61%) rely on emoticons to best express their feelings, while 17% rely on Internet slang (i.e. LOL, GR8) and 13% rely on photo sharing.

LOL – A whopping 83% of respondents say that “happiness” is one of the two emotions they express most often using emoticons. “Flirting” is the second favorite emotion and next most expressed.

I Heart You – More than half of those surveyed think that feelings of love are easier to convey using emoticons than in person – 57% of respondents would rather tell a “crush” their true feelings using an emoticon. 10% of respondents would go as far as proposing marriage to their loved one via IM.

It’s Not You, It’s Me – Some things are better said in person. Men and women both agree that telling someone “things aren’t working out” or “we should break up” is better said face to face – only 12% of females and 11% of males would opt for a break-up with an emoticon.

“Emoti-Graphic” Memory – 66% of Yahoo! Messenger users have memorized the text characters for three or more emoticons – 19% of respondents have memorized more than 10.

Gen IM – Respondents from the ages of 19 to 25 are the most avid emoticon users, with 68% in this age group using emoticons on a daily basis. But it’s not just the younger generation embracing emoticons – nearly half (48%) of respondents over the age of 50 are using emoticons in their everyday communication.

It’s a Girl Thing – 82% of respondents think that women are more likely to use emoticons than men.

You’re Fired! – Men are more prone to use IM and emoticons to fire someone (14%) versus women [11%].

See the full list of Yahoo! Messenger emoticons (including hidden ones!).

Plus, head over to Yahoo! Yodel to read an interview with the inventor of the emoticon, Professor Scott Fahlman.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

57 Comments »

RSS Feed | TrackBack URI

  1. Sarah, just curious….what is the purpose of “hidden” emoticons? Why not reveal them all? Hidden emoticons just slow the conversations down in chat. Invariably, someone will post “Hey, where did you get THAT emoticon?”. Then you have to stop and explain where to find it or how to make one. Seems pointless.

    Comment by Robin — July 10, 2007 #

  2. For me , the favorite 5 emoticons are :
    :D – it can mean different things and it looks good
    =)) – always you can find something to laugh about with your friends
    :-? ? – you can’t know everything
    :P – it’s funny to take out your tongue online
    \:D/ – sometimes I am so happy, I feel like dancing
    But most of them are really useful. It’s easier to express a felling with an emoticon that to write about what you are felling. And it’s faster.

    Comment by Seinfeld — July 10, 2007 #

  3. === Old news ? ===
    I would expect this post to appear in the blog about 2 weeks ago, when the press release was out:
    http://press-releases.techwhack.com/10896/emoticon/

    Comment by George — July 11, 2007 #

  4. For me, the emoticon is so very useful to make my expression not only some words. That emoticon is subtitutes my words. So This is impressed.
    =)) is often using when I’m in good mood or something funny in IM or YM

    Comment by Dimas — July 11, 2007 #

  5. Hi Sarah,

    nice move to put the emoticon in the spotlight of IM. I have created alternative emoticons for the YIM in the past and some of my creations are now part of the official set. Very cool! I’m happy I could add somehting to the best IM out there.

    For future versions of the program I would like to ask you to PLEASE stick with the current style of the emoticons and don’t substitute them by shiny futuristic, but empty zombie-emoticons without a soul. Other IMs are good as well in terms of usability, but only YIM has ALL the great features AND has the best emoticons by far. Great job!

    Super

    Comment by Super — July 11, 2007 #

  6. the evolution of the emoticon oover 25 years sending my messenger

    Comment by humarao — July 11, 2007 #

  7. I love those little emoticons I use them all the time

    Comment by sharmathompson — July 12, 2007 #

  8. I JUSTTTTTTTTTTTT LOVE THIS EMOTIONS I CANT HAVE 1 CONVERSATION WITHOUT THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

    Comment by Karen — July 12, 2007 #

  9. ITS AWSOME =) I LOVE THEM ALL BY 1982-2007

    Comment by Karen — July 12, 2007 #

  10. SUBMIT IDEA:

    Why not Msgr submit us some emoticons related last words we input in our last messages… Good way to discover/learn newest emoticons :o )

    Comment by Olivier D. alias ze kat — July 13, 2007 #

  11. wooh do we have kids on here or something?

    Super, things willchange. and for all you know the new ones in the vista verson may be better. you havn’t even used it yet, so you cant say it sucks.

    hidden emoticions should always be visable on the messenger window. as Robbin said above its pointless and anoying that we have to tell our friends where we got it and going to your page and its just a real page.

    Also, could we have custom emoticons that we can make our selves and also download them from a yahoo gallery

    Comment by chris — July 13, 2007 #

  12. Chris, maybe you’re a bit too passionate about Vista. Just because Microsoft finally managed to put it on the market doesn’t mean that everything that comes with it is supercool.You were right, I hadn’t seen the Vista version of YIM yet. But now I checked out the preview and it seems like my fears were justified. The shiny, antiseptic zombie smileys appeared. Of course, my taste is my own and everyone is free to disagree. So I’ll just agree with your suggestion that everyone should be able to use custom emoticons.

    Comment by Super — July 16, 2007 #

  13. i heart the emoticons i send secret messages to my secret admirer so no 1 but him will understand them*~*???

    Comment by karen m — July 17, 2007 #

  14. i luv emoticons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Comment by lil_sassy911 — July 19, 2007 #

  15. when will we be able to add custom emoticons in Yahoo Messenger? I also use MSN Messenger and add emoticons from sites like http://www.myemoticons.com and http://www.smileyarena.com into my MSN. With the new interoperability will we be able to add custom emoticons in yahoo as that would be very cool.

    JC

    Comment by John Calvin — July 19, 2007 #

  16. I absolutely do not know what i would do with out emoticons…. they are my fav way to tell my closest friends how i feel during the day when i cant gg to see the

    I LUV EMOTICONS!!!!

    Comment by Jen — July 19, 2007 #

  17. I would like to know where to go on your site to download the Emoticons? The only ones I have ran across are the ones put out by Smiley and I do not want those, I feel safer staying with something that you guys put out. Hope you can help me out as I love to use these in my mail. Thanks!!

    Comment by Mary Claude — July 20, 2007 #

  18. I absolutely love them! my cousin (25) who lives in El Paso TX and me (32 in Aurora, CO) are always in touch with the latest gossip, sad and love stories. The smiley she adds to her text make it feel more real. I may be crazy? but when she send the one that is laughing on the floor makes me laugh even harder because I realize we are both laghing really hard about the things that happens to us. Or when we send a mssg saying “gues what?” and she uses her nail nibbling smiley makes me want to tell her from a-z what ever happened. I just loves this little things even if I’m old to be into this. LOVE YOU SMILEY

    Comment by sofia — July 20, 2007 #

  19. Hi Mary,

    All of our emoticons are built into the product, so if you want to enter them manually during a conversation just type in the text equivalents. For a guide on what the characters are for each emoticon, go to:
    http://messenger.yahoo.com/emoticons.php

    Sarah Bacon

    Comment by Administrator — July 20, 2007 #

  20. I know a total of 34 emoticons just off the top of my head. I can use an emoticon atleast four times in one minute, at times. I love them.

    =; Talk to the hand.
    :> Smug
    :-? Thinking.

    My three fave =D

    Comment by Dan — July 23, 2007 #

  21. [...] completa cu descoperirile celor de la Yahoo! poate fi gasita aici. De asemenea, un interviu interesant cu inventatorul emoticonurilor poate fi citit [...]

    Pingback by Sondaj despre emoticons » Arena IT — July 26, 2007 #

  22. If all of us were to use precision of expression in our communications as well as precision of meaning, we would not need cryptic symbology. Why don’t well use our Webster’s Dictionary to full advantage. Also, please ask yourself this question before you use ambiguous symbols and words, What is truth? Will truth set you free as well as those you communicate that truth to? Happy self-introspective searching to you all! Sincerely, CURT

    Comment by Curt aka Adomi — July 31, 2007 #

  23. hi
    i cant find hiden emotion page in new yahoo!!!!

    Comment by m2rd_pilot — August 10, 2007 #

  24. Hidden emoticons are available here:

    http://messenger.yahoo.com/hiddenemoticons.php

    Sarah Bacon

    Comment by Administrator — August 10, 2007 #

  25. [...] survey of 40,000 users of the Yahoo Messenger instant-message program, conducted on July 2007 reveals that: [...]

    Pingback by Emoticons – a trend to last? — December 6, 2007 #

  26. Such a shame there are no custom emoticons and inline images (maybe limited by px size).

    Comment by james — August 3, 2008 #

  27. It would be fun if you can make your own custom emoticons. Other Messenger has it so why cant yahoo?

    Comment by wildcats — January 26, 2009 #

  28. There has to be a meathod to add custom emotioncons to YIM… someone just needs to hack the code, write it for each one and write the instructions for adding it to YIM… Yahoo is just afraid that it will get out of control.

    Comment by brian — March 15, 2009 #

  29. :D

    Comment by carola — August 16, 2010 #

  30. (…)

    Comment by carola — August 16, 2010 #

  31. my friends get cooler ones but where do they get them i wanna know

    Comment by carola — August 16, 2010 #

  32. :-)

    Comment by carola — August 16, 2010 #

  33. [...] 2007, Yahoo! Messenger carried out a survey about emoticons. With 40,000 respondants, we think it’s safe to say the results were a decent [...]

    Pingback by best-price-auto.info » Blog Archive » A Brief History of the Emoticon — September 20, 2011 #

  34. [...] 2007, Yahoo! Messenger carried out a survey about emoticons. With 40,000 respondants, we think it’s safe to say the results were a decent [...]

    Pingback by A Brief History of the Emoticon | Stu Haugen — September 20, 2011 #

  35. [...] 2007, Yahoo! Messenger carried out a survey about emoticons. With 40,000 respondants, we think it’s safe to say the results were a decent [...]

    Pingback by A Brief History of the Emoticon « plasmavslcdreviews.com — September 20, 2011 #

  36. [...] 2007, Yahoo! Messenger carried out a survey about emoticons. With 40,000 respondants, we think it’s safe to say the results were a decent [...]

    Pingback by A Brief History of the Emoticon - Southeast Asian Centre for e-Media — September 20, 2011 #

  37. [...] 2007, Yahoo! Messenger carried out a survey about emoticons. With 40,000 respondants, we think it’s safe to say the results were a decent [...]

    Pingback by A Brief History of the Emoticon | facebookap.com — September 20, 2011 #

  38. [...] 2007, Yahoo! Messenger carried out a survey about emoticons. With 40,000 respondants, we think it’s safe to say the results were a decent [...]

    Pingback by A Brief History of the Emoticon | bursst.com — September 20, 2011 #

  39. [...] 2007, Yahoo! Messenger carried out a survey about emoticons. With 40,000 respondants, we think it’s safe to say the results were a decent [...]

    Pingback by A Brief History of the Emoticon | Startup Help — September 20, 2011 #

  40. [...] 2007, Yahoo! Messenger carried out a survey about emoticons. With 40,000 respondants, we think it’s safe to say the results were a decent [...]

    Pingback by A Brief History of the Emoticon — September 21, 2011 #

  41. Hey, you used to write wonderful, but the last few posts happen to be kinda boring… I skip your tremendous writings. Past few posts are somewhat out of track! come on!

    Comment by build your own shed plans — January 6, 2012 #

  42. Hello there, I discovered your website by the use of Google whilst looking for a similar subject, your website came up, it seems to be great. I’ve added to favourites|added to bookmarks.

    Comment by Hacer encuestas — January 30, 2012 #

  43. 69. skeeziks: Now I know where you conservatives come from – some secret baby factory churning out fascists.

    Comment by dog pain — April 2, 2012 #

  44. Great Article! I wish sprint offered the samsung note, but i even now love bbm on blackberry. I just discovered a excellent report on bbm app for iphone

    Comment by Tonya Mirman — April 30, 2012 #

  45. I like this blog very much, Its a rattling nice berth to read and receive info . “Famous remarks are very seldom quoted correctly.” by Simeon Strunsky.

    Comment by Monaco banks — June 16, 2012 #

  46. Hey – wonderful blog site, just looking around some personal blogs, seems a pretty great platform you are using. Im currently using Drupal for a few of my sites but looking to modify one of them over to a platform related to yours as a trial run. Anything in particular you would suggest about it?

    Comment by fashion market research — June 16, 2012 #

  47. I have realized some important matters through your website post. One other subject I would like to talk about is that there are several games on the market designed specially for toddler age kids. They contain pattern identification, colors, wildlife, and shapes. These typically focus on familiarization instead of memorization. This keeps children and kids engaged without experiencing like they are studying. Thanks

    Comment by dubturbo beats — June 21, 2012 #

  48. Excellent read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch since I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch! “Any man would be forsworn to gain a kingdom.” by Roger Zelazny.

    Comment by Cheap Warez Viagra — June 30, 2012 #

  49. C9Md7b I really liked your blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great.

    Comment by Web 2.0 — July 15, 2012 #

  50. 6Oaym6 Really appreciate you sharing this blog post.Thanks Again. Awesome.

    Comment by Web Directory — July 15, 2012 #

  51. I leave a reply when I like reading an article on a website or if I have a little something of merit to contribute on the discussion. And on this informative article I was really moved enough to leave a remark I now have plenty of basic questions for you if it’s allright?. Could it be simply me or do some of these comments come across as coming from brain dead folks? :-P And, if you are posting on additional sites, I would like to keep up with anything fresh you have to post. Could you list every one of your community pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile? Thanks!

    Comment by Cumpston — July 15, 2012 #

  52. Can this be done for free?

    Comment by meal plans weight loss — July 15, 2012 #

  53. Greetings! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site? I’m getting sick and tired of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be fantastic if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

    Comment by pop — July 15, 2012 #

  54. q8rFUE A big thank you for your article.Thanks Again. Much obliged.

    Comment by Article Submission — July 15, 2012 #

  55. Can this be done for free?

    Comment by weightloss plan — July 16, 2012 #

  56. I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Fantastic work!

    Comment by HDMI Cables — July 16, 2012 #

  57. Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your content seem to be running off the screen in Chrome. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the problem fixed soon. Kudos

    Comment by Wedding Photography Cambridgeshire — July 17, 2012 #

Post a comment

Disclaimer and Reminder. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily the opinions of Yahoo! and we assume no responsibility for such content. Yahoo! may, in our sole discretion, remove comments that are off topic, inappropriate or otherwise violate our Terms of Service. Please do not post any private information unless you want it to be available publicly and never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your comments.