The peculiarities of using emoji pictograms in online communities with different frequency of use of obscene lexicon

Abstract

The subject of this research is the use of pictograms for expressing emotions and feelings in network communication. The object is the comments in several communities in the popular among youth social network VKontakte. The goal of this article lies in the comparison of preferred emoji used by the users to express their emotions and feelings, who are part of the communities with different frequency of use of obscene lexicon. The hypothesis is advanced that the groups with different frequency of use of obscene lexicon differ in their emotional tonality and the emoji pictograms used for expressing emotions and feelings. The research is based on the method of survey in form of the questionnaire about the peculiarities of Internet preferences and most attractive communities in social network for the respondents; as well as the method of content analysis. The questionnaire survey involved 854 persons; the data on the frequency of use of emoji was collected on the example of 14 communities in VKontakte social network. It is determined that in communities with lesser use of obscene lexicon, the rating of emoji denoting positive (hedonic and affinity) emotions is higher. In communities with more obscene lexicon, the users equally use pictograms that express negative and positive emotion; most frequent negative emotions such denote anger and frustration, or melancholy, sadness. The acquired results can be applied in development of the methods for monitoring the moods of the users of network communication.