In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill writes “The man who has been active on campus, whose personality is such that he gets along with all kinds of people and who has done an adequate job with his studies has a most decided edge over the strictly academic student. Some of these, because of their all-rounded qualifications, have received several offers of positions […]” (1960, p. 60).

But an emojis is not a “man.” So, what is the advantage of being an all-rounded emoji? And what is an “all-rounded emoji” anyway?

An all-rounded emoji is an emoji that has more than one image in the system: a close-up and a whole-body one. Having these two kinds of representations reveals more about the emoji. The close-up shows its facial expression and mood; for example, whether it’s happy or about to say something. An image of the whole body shows its body language and attitude; for instance, if it’s playful or grounded.  

An emoji can present its all-roundedness through some complexity between its facial expression and body language. If we look at the pig and the rabbit above, we can see that their facial expression and body language signify different moods, where the faces are more energetic than the bodies. The cat and the dog seem to have the same cheerful state of mind in both their images. Like the pig and the rabbit, the monkey seems to hold varied dispositions. Most noticeable is its ability to turn its body and head in different directions; a posture that cannot be maintained for a long time, and thus, indicates dynamic attention.

So, what is the advantage of being an all-rounded emoji? If the emoji’s interest is to be used as many times as possible, then obviously, having several different images of it increases the times that it is used. In other words, its multi-faceted personality can match different types of moods and can get “along with all kinds of people.”