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How Different Cultures Use Emojis
How we use emojis around the world differs by culture and generation in interesting ways, sometimes funny, or not.
Fritz, who’d just turned 22 thought the text he got from his boss that morning was quite funny, he knew she had a sense of humour. So he replied with a skull emoji (💀) and five minutes later was a bit surprised when the CEO texted him to come straight to her office. Part of the Gen X demographic, she thought the skull emoji meant death. To Gen Z, a skull means hilarious.
Errol had spent weeks on a complex diplomatic communication with another diplomat in the Middle East. They’d got on well and when a meeting had been agreed, he sent a fist bump (👊) to the Middle Eastern diplomate. It almost created an international incident! A fist bump in Western culture is rarely used in Middle Eastern cultures where it can take on a rather dark political meaning.
Emojis have become an integral part of our daily communications at work and in our social and family lives. While they may seem simple to us, they carry different contexts across cultures and generations. So much so that some global corporations like IBM and Microsoft have developed emoji etiquette guides for employees.
