Emoji types and functions in online medical consultations on a Chinese medical platform

Abstract Emoji may help overcome the lack of non-verbal cues in text-based online medical consultations enabling doctors to better engage with patients. However, emoji can also be ambiguous and possibly, misinterpreted. Focusing on 87 online medical consultations from a Chinese online medical platform, this study utilizes the emoji categories in Emojipedia to examine types of emoji used by doctors and patients and adapts the emoji illocutionary effect typology to explore their functions. We found that the most prevalent emoji types in online medical consultations were smileys , people, and symbols . Patients’ emoji were mostly negative (67 %) whereas 70 % of emoji used by doctors were positive or neutral. Of 565 instances of emoji use, their primary function was as illocutionary force indicating devices, to modify the tone of the accompanying text. Illocutionary force enhancement was the most frequent function of illocutionary force indicating device emoji, accompanying speech acts such as react , inquire, and inform . Emoji also functioned to perform illocutionary acts, mainly as react acts, where doctors and patients used emoji to acknowledge each other’s texts. This study contributes to the literature on communication in online medical consultations, providing insights into the nuances of emoji use which may be useful for e-health professionals.