Research On The Influencing Factors Of Young Users’ Willingness To Use Online Emoticons

In recent years,with the development and popularization of smartphones and social media,a large number of information exchange activities in real life have changed from offline face-to-face communication to online communication,and Internet users’communication is no longer limited to text,online interaction has begun to turn to graphical interpretation and visualization,and online emoticons have become an indispensable part of the online information exchange process among young users.As young users are the force behind the use of online emoticons,analyzing the specific factors that affect the willingness of young users to use online emoticons is of great significance for optimizing the user experience of using online emoticons and promoting the healthy development of online emoticons.From the existing research results,the current domestic and foreign scholars’research on the user’s online emoticons use behavior mainly focuses on the use and gratifications theory,the symbol interaction theory,and the speech act theory.The domestic related research mainly focuses on descriptive research,while the foreign research focuses on empirical research and are scattered in multi-disciplinary fields.Many scholars have adopted sociological research methods such as statistics,surveys,and experiments to analyze users’ online emoticons usage behavior,and studies on factors influencing users’ online emoticons usage behavior have focused on personal factors,cultural backgrounds,and system platforms.In fact,users’ online emoticons usage behavior is the process of the user interacting with the platform and with people,and users’ subjective perception and inner experience during the interaction process is one of the important factors that affect the willingness to use.However,there are few existing researches have investigated the specific factors that affect users’ willingness to use emoticons from the subjective perspective of user experience.Therefore,based on the results of qualitative research,this paper combines with S-O-R model and Flow theory to explore the influence mechanism of emoticons characteristics and usage context on young users’ willingness to use online emoticons through flow experience and social presence.This paper firstly reviews research literature on online emoticons,users’ online emoticons usage behavior,S-O-R model and Flow theory.Then it obtains qualitative research data through semi-structured interviews with 28 young users,exploring the key factors influencing young users’ willingness to use online emoticons through three-level coding analysis.Combined with S-O-R model and Flow theory,a theoretical model that describes the factors influencing young users’willingness to use online emoticons has been constructed,387 valid questionnaires have been collected by questionnaire method,and data analysis and hypothesis testing are carried out by using SmartPLS 3.0 software.This research obtains the following results:First,the emoticons characteristics takes on visual attraction,content presentation,and information interpretation,and there are differences in the effects of different dimensions on flow experience and social presence.Among them,visual attraction,content presentation and information interpretation all have significant and positive effects on flow experience,information interpretation have significant and positive effects on social presence,while visual attraction and content presentation have no significant effects on social presence.Second,the usage context takes on interaction platform,interaction object,and interaction scene,and there are differences in the effects of different dimensions on flow experience and social presence.Among them,both the interaction platform and the interaction scene have significant and positive effects on flow experience and social presence,while the interaction object has no significant effects on flow experience and social presence.Third,flow experience and social presence have significant and positive influence on users’ willingness to use online emoticons,and play an important mediating role in the process where emoticon characteristics and usage contexts influence users’ willingness to use online emoticons.Flow experience plays an entire mediating role in the process where emoticons characteristics(visual attraction,content presentation,information interpretation)and usage context(interaction platform,interaction scene)influence users’willingness to use online emoticons;social presence plays an entire mediating role in the process where emoticons characteristics(information interpretation)and usage context(interaction platform,interaction scene)influence users’ willingness to use online emoticons.Interaction objects influences on users’ willingness directly rather than through the mediating effects of flow experience and social presence.According to the findings of this paper,countermeasures and suggestions are proposed from three perspective of online emoticons users,producers and providing platforms.From the perspective of online emoticons users,users should pay attention to the interaction objects and choose to use online emoticons;consider the interactive scene and use online emoticons in a reasonable and appropriate manner.From the perspective of online emoticons producers,producers should pay attention to the needs of users and satisfy diverse uses;strengthen emoticons characteristics and improve symbol quality.From the perspective of the providing platforms,the platform should promote users’perception and enhance the user experience;achieve precise recommendations and strengthen the convenience of use;strengthen supervision and purify the communication environment.