How emojis change relationships, communication

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Despite your age or gender, if you send text messages regularly, you're probably familiar with emojis.

Dating coach Cher Gopman believes the right emojis in a text message can actually help a romance grow stronger by keeping the passion alive.

"Sending a kissy face to your husband or wife can definitely help a relationship because it helps set the mood, it helps make them smile. If you can put a smile on your boyfriend or girlfriend's face, why wouldn't you want to do that?" asked Gopman.

Lance Ulanoff is the chief correspondent at Mashable, which is a tech and news website that's done countless stories on emoji use. He said more than half of Americans add emojis to their text messages and social media posts.

"This is the social contract now. this is how we communicate with each other, and if you don't know how to use these properly you're basically outside that world. You don't know how to communicate with other humans because this is how it's done," said Ulanoff.

Whatever your emoji of choice is, be prepared to see new ones. Ulanoff predicts the options will continue to grow.  In fact, emojis have become such a big part of life for so many people, it was World Emoji Day earlier this month on July 17th.