TOKYO, Nov. 21 -- On social networks, in our emails... emojis are used everywhere. And their rates of use are increasing: on Discord more than 7,600 emojis are used every second. More than 436 billion emojis have been posted on the messaging service since its launch in 2015.

To better understand internet users' passion for these pictograms, Discord surveyed 16,000 people over the age of 16. More than 70 per cent of them said that emojis help build connections among people. And this is the case whether they are friends, family members, classmates or even colleagues.

Younger generations are particularly fond of these small symbols representing facial expressions, activities, objects, animals and foods. They believe they help them be more ...