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Strategic Use of Negative Emojis in Messaging-Based Interventions for Public Health Communication on Social Media:
1Department of Visual Communication Design, College of Fine Arts, Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
JMIR Human Factors
|July 31, 2026
Summary
Negative emojis boost social media engagement and promote preventative health behaviors. Message effectiveness increases when emoji sentiment aligns with the text, crucial for mobile health (mHealth) communication strategies.
Area of Science:
- Digital Health Communication
- Social Media Analysis
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Understanding the impact of emojis on mobile health (mHealth) communication is limited.
- Emojis' effectiveness is influenced by their relevance and context within accompanying text.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how emoji valence affects mHealth message effectiveness.
- To determine the role of emoji-text congruence in message outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Mixed-method approach with 3 studies: analysis of 257,648 health tweets and 2 controlled experiments (N=410).
- Quantified social media engagement related to emoji valence (positive, negative, absent).
- Assessed influence of negative emojis on preventative behaviors under varying text congruence.
Main Results:
- Negative emojis significantly increased social media engagement compared to positive emojis (P<.001).
- Negative emojis effectively promoted preventative health behaviors (P<.001).
- High negative emoji-text congruence enhanced message persuasiveness for preventive behavior (P<.05).
Conclusions:
- Findings advance theoretical understanding of emoji use in health communication.
- Provide practical guidelines for optimizing mHealth messaging strategies.
- Emphasize considering emotional valence and message coherence in digital health communication.
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