Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the nature and concept of emoticons/emojis. Instead of taking for granted that these user-generated formats are necessarily emotional, we empirically assessed in what extent are they and the specificity of each one. Drawing on congruent mood state, valence core and emotion appraisal theories we expected a compatible statistical association between positive/negative/neutral emotional valence expressions and emoticons of similar valence. The positive emoticons were consistently associated with positive valence posts. Added to that analysis, 21 emotional categories were identified in posts and correlated with eight emoticons. Design/methodology/approach Two studies were used to address this question. The first study defined emoticon concept and interpreted their meaning highlighting their communication goals and anticipated effects. The link between emojis and emoticons was also obtained. Some emoticons types present more ambiguity than others. In the second study, three years of real and private (Facebook) posts from 82 adolescents were content analyzed and coded. Findings Only the neutral emoticons always matched neutral emotional categories found in the written interaction. Although the emoticon valence and emotional category congruence pattern was the rule, we also detected a combination of different valence emoticons types and emotion categories valence expressions. Apparently the connection between emoticon and emotion are not so obviously straightforward as the literature used to assume. The created objects designed to communicate emotions (emoticons) have their specific corresponding logic with the emotional tone of the message. Originality/value Theoretically, we discussed the emotional content of emoticons/emojis. Although this king of signals have an Asian origin and later borrowed from the western countries, their ambiguity and differing specificity have never been analyzed.

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