Abstract
In recent years, android apps have achieved unbelievable popularity and turn out to be a new source for Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). There is gender-based imbalance of language use. This paper specifically aims to explore the gender-based differences in the use of Emoji. Several research studies have been done to identify behaviour of male and female toward emoji usage. Gender-specific studies are always meaningful for understanding how much males and females vary in their communication styles. However, until now not much is known that to what extant both genders have difference in the use of emoji. To fill such a gap, this study attempts to explore the use of Emoji in conversation through gender lens. The analysis depends on the data collected from android app with the help of Kika keyboard. For this purpose, 144,478 users from 180 countries, and their 510 million messages are selected as data set. A multi-dimensional statistical analysis has been conducted from many view points in the use of Emoji, taking account of the differences and preferences. The findings demonstrate that the use of emoji can noticeably differ between males and females. Consequently, various implications are purposed that can help in creating better understanding about gender-based use of emoji and for keyboard layout developers.