Effects of emoji in webcare

Researchers

• Dr Lieke Verheijen
• Dr Christine Liebrecht (Tilburg University)

Time frame

September 2020 - December 2022

Project description

In the interactive online environment of social media, companies try to build collaborative relationships with consumers by engaging in conversations (i.e., ‘webcare’) in response to consumers’ ‘electronic word-of-mouth’ (eWOM). Herein, they often adopt a communication style called ‘conversational human voice’ (CHV) which fits the register of social media. Emoji (😊🎈👋🏻) are seen as one of the CHV cues that can be used in webcare communication, but little is known about their usage and effects in professional online communication.
This project investigates the use of different kinds of emoji together with different aspects of CHV in webcare, and explores language style accommodation with emoji in webcare in terms of usage and effects.

Keywords

Emoji, webcare, social media, eWOM, CHV, computer-mediated communication, corporate communication

Financier

Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen

Contact

Lieke Verheijen, lieke.verheijen@ru.nl