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Goodbye Text, Hello Emoji: Mobile Communication on WeChat in China

Published: 02 May 2017 Publication History

Abstract

We present a qualitative study of mobile communication via WeChat in Southern China, focusing on the rapid proliferation of emoji and stickers and the lessening dependence on text. We use interview and observation data from 30 participants to investigate how rural, small town, and urban Chinese adults creatively and innovatively balance the use of emoji, stickers, and text in their mobile communication practices. We also discuss design implications of our research for the field of HCI, offering ways of leveraging the non-textual communication practices that we uncover, in scenarios where purely text-based communication may not suffice.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    May 2017
    7138 pages
    ISBN:9781450346559
    DOI:10.1145/3025453
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    Published: 02 May 2017

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    Author Tags

    1. china
    2. emoji
    3. mobile
    4. qualitative methods
    5. stickers
    6. wechat

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    • (2024)Der chinesische Messenger WeChat: Praktiken der AutomatisierungInterkulturelles Forum der deutsch-chinesischen Kommunikation10.1515/ifdck-2023-00144:1(1-22)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2024
    • (2024) Jieun Kiaer: Emoji speak: Communication and behaviours on social media Folia Linguistica10.1515/flin-2024-200858:1(227-232)Online publication date: 26-Feb-2024
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