Emoji is now a popular inclusion in technology-mediated communication and a part of everyday expression of users. Yet, there is a dearth of scientifically designed research studies focussing on the human implications of the use of emojis. Limited systematic inquiry in this area is restricted to technical studies focussing on algorithm analysis of humongous quantitative data ignoring the people who are posting these emojis. Therefore, in the present study, an attempt is made to study the use of emojis from an individual’s behavioural perspective borrowing from the classic ‘contagion theory’ and the ‘information-signal theory’. A mixed research approach was adopted to study young university student’s emoji usage behaviour. Focus group discussion (FGD) was conducted on 11 participants with an average age of 22.5 years. The discussion was transcribed and thematic analysis was then conducted from which a survey instrument was developed which was administered to 250 university students. These survey data were then analysed using exploratory factor analysis. Results show that social media platforms, linguistic pattern, social relationships, emotional connect and level of formality and gender emerged as important factors that drive emoji usage.

The findings of the study indicate the psychological implications and socio-behavioural impact of emoji usage which can be used for creating regulations and norms. What appears to be casual pictorial supplement of textual messages holds the power to be developed as a stand-alone language which could impact the usage of language-dependent communication.

现在，表情符号已成为技术介导的交流中的流行内容，并且是用户日常表达的一部分。然而，缺乏科学设计的研究集中于使用表情符号对人类的影响。在这一领域中有限的系统性查询仅限于技术研究，而技术研究侧重于庞大的定量数据的算法分析，而忽略了发布这些表情符号的人。因此，在本研究中，尝试从经典的“传染理论”和“信息信号理论”中借鉴个人行为的角度来研究表情符号的使用。采用混合研究方法来研究年轻大学生的表情符号使用行为。焦点小组讨论（FGD）是针对11位平均年龄为22.5岁的参与者进行的。讨论进行了转录，然后进行了主题分析，由此开发了一种调查工具，该工具适用于250名大学生。然后使用探索性因素分析法对这些调查数据进行分析。结果表明，社交媒体平台，语言模式，社交关系，情感联系以及形式和性别水平已成为推动表情符号使用的重要因素。

研究结果表明表情符号用法的心理影响和社会行为影响，可用于制定法规和规范。似乎是文本消息的随意图形补充，具有将其开发为独立语言的能力，这可能会影响依赖于语言的通信的使用。