10-year Anniversary of iPhone: New Study by Tenor Reveals Visual Expressions Like GIFs, Emojis and Stickers Make Many Feel Heard
77% of Those Who Use Visual Expressions Believe Their Thoughts and Feelings Are Better Understood When They Use GIFs, Emojis and Stickers Over Words Alone in Messaging
SAN FRANCISCO, June 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tenor, the largest and fastest-growing mobile GIF sharing platform, today released results from a recent survey conducted online by Harris Poll1 among over 2,000 U.S. adults, revealing that 7 in 10 Americans (71 percent) use visual expressions2 such as emojis, stickers or GIFs when texting or using mobile messaging apps. These survey results coincide with the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone release, which has played an instrumental role in making mobile messaging ubiquitous.
Among those who use visual expressions when texting or messaging:
- 77 percent believe the people they frequently text/mobile message better understand the thoughts and feelings they are trying to communicate when using visual expressions rather than words alone;
- 69 percent feel more connected to the people they frequently text/mobile message when expressing themselves using visual expressions in addition to words; and
- 59 percent are more comfortable expressing their emotions using visual expressions in mobile messaging than voicing them in phone conversations.
"The overwhelming shift to visual communication is a direct result of our mobile lifestyles and the increasingly important role of messaging, driven by massive smartphone adoption worldwide," said David McIntosh, CEO of Tenor. "Ninety percent of GIF searches center on emotion, and Tenor is focused on delivering just the right GIF that expresses it best and defining a new visual language for the mobile age."
Getting Emotional
Roughly 2 in 3 visual expression users (65 percent) use them in texts/messages with others to express their personality or emotions and over half use them with the intention to make conversations more fun (56 percent) or to make the person they are talking to laugh (51 percent).
Among women who use visual expressions when texting/mobile messaging, 54 percent do so to express happiness -- compared to 42 percent of men.
Other interesting insights among visual expression users include:
- Roughly half use them to 'lighten the mood' (51% of men and 49% of women).
- Roughly a quarter use them to show support (28% of women and 22% of men).
- 28% of women use them to express frustration -- compared to 16% of men.
- 26% of women use them to express anger -- compared to 17% of men.
The Rise of the GIF
The majority of 18-44 year olds who use visual expressions believe GIFs help them express emotions better than either emojis or words (both 64 percent) in text/mobile messages. Three in five 18-44 year olds (62 percent) expect to use GIFs more in text/mobile messages in the next 12 months than they do now.
1Survey Methodology: This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Tenor from May 24-26, 2017 among 2,057 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, among whom 1,386 use visual expressions when texting/mobile messaging. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore, no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact [email protected].
2 Visual Expression: For purposes of the survey visual expression refers to emojis, stickers and GIFs used in texts or mobile messaging.
About Tenor
More than 200 million people each month use Tenor to add tone to their mobile messaging conversations by adding GIFs that visually communicate their thoughts and feelings -- better than words ever could. We process more than 200M search requests daily and have used this data to build the Emotional Graph, which powers our GIF Keyboard app and GIF sharing for partners including Apple iMessage, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google Gboard, Kik, LinkedIn, TouchPal and others. Learn more about becoming a Tenor GIF API partner at https://tenor.com/gifapi.
About Harris Poll
Over the last 5 decades, Harris Polls have become media staples. With comprehensive experience and precise technique in public opinion polling, along with a proven track record of uncovering consumers' motivations and behaviors, The Harris Poll has gained strong brand recognition around the world. The Harris Poll offers a diverse portfolio of proprietary client solutions to transform relevant insights into actionable foresight for a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer packaged goods. Contact us for more information.
SOURCE Tenor
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