Semiotic Interpretation of Emoticon Used by Followers On Instagram

Abstract

This study deals with semiotic interpretation of emoticon used by followers on instagram. It was aimed to describe factors that did affected followers to use emoticon on Instagram, and to elaborate the reasons why emoticon realized by followers on Instagram. This study was conducted by using descriptive qualitative research. The sources of data were taken from caption on instagram during December 2017 made by followers on instagram. The result showed that there were two factors that affected followers of the instagram to use emoticons in their caption, they are physiological arousal which was found 21 emoticons, and for cognitive label which was found 84 emoticon. So, in total there were 105 captions using emoticons found in followers instagram. Related to the reason of the caption of the followers on instagram to use emoticon, based on the interview they used the emoticon because they wanted to deliver their feeling, moody, expression without considering the functions of emoticon in their caption. Moreover, most of followers used emoticon based on what they want without considering context. Even sometimes, they used emoticon depends on situation or context what they felt at the time