JMIR Human Factors · Published 2026-07-31 · DOI 10.2196/78824
Abstract BackgroundDespite the growing importance of social media in mobile health (mHealth) communication, we lack a clear understanding of how emotional elements like emojis shape message effectiveness. Furthermore, since emojis are inherently tied to text, their impact may be highly dependent on the relevance and context of the accompanying written content. ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate how the valence of emojis affects the effectiveness of mHealth messages and to determine the role of emoji-text congruence in shaping message outcomes. MethodsA mixed-method approach was used, encompassing 3 complementary studies. First, an analysis of real-world health-related tweets (N123 ResultsThe automatic content analysis revealed that messages containing negative emojis generated significantly higher social media engagement than those with positive emojis (βt257, 593Pt218PF1, 186η2P ConclusionsThese findings advance our theoretical understanding of emoji-based health communication and provide practical guidelines for public health organizations seeking to optimize their mHealth messaging strategies. Our results highlight the need for careful consideration of both emotional valence and message coherence when designing health communications in the digital age.
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Luo, Y., Yu, S. (2026). Strategic Use of Negative Emojis in Messaging-Based Interventions for Public Health Communication on Social Media: Mixed Methods Study. JMIR Human Factors. https://doi.org/10.2196/78824