Hyojin Kim, Kyung Myun Lee

Social music listening experiences, such as concerts, where people listen to music together and share emotions, enhance social connectedness and induce positive experiences for listeners. With the advancement of online technology, various systems have been developed to support emotional interaction among remote listeners. Among them, emojis are widely used as a primary tool for emotional communication in online environments. This study explores how emojis are used to share emotions in online music listening contexts and analyzes listeners’ cognitive and behavioral experiences of emotional sharing through experimental data. Based on these findings, we propose design guidelines for user-centered emotional interaction interfaces. In Study 1, we collected and analyzed emoji-based real-time chat data from YouTube live music performances and compared them to non-real-time comments. Through a case study aligning musical structure with emoji reactions over time, we identified that repeated emoji inputs may serve as expressions of emotional intensity. In Study 2, participants listened to music while using an interface that allowed them to tap emojis and view other listeners’ reactions in real time. We collected self-reported data and emoji response logs from 47 participants to examine how emotional expression and sharing affected the listening experience. The results showed that social connectedness was stronger when participants actively expressed emotions, and this sense of connection was significantly correlated with positive experiences such as flow, enjoyment, and emotional intensity. Furthermore, the effects of emotion sharing also varied depending on the mood of the song (e.g., upbeat, ballad). Building on the results of these two studies, this research proposes design guidelines for interfaces that foster emotional sharing in online music listening. We discuss the potential of interaction design to enhance the social and affective benefits of remote music listening experiences.