You’re a 21st century single; your online dating life is active, you’ve scored dates via 7 different apps and you feel like the boss. You send emojis left, right and centre, and generally you get a good response. But when you send that charming aubergine to say hello and the red dancing lady to say goodbye – does the recipient understand what you’re getting at? Because here at SpeedDater HQ we’ve heard that purple vegetable goodness means something else entirely…

To get to the bottom of the conundrum, we asked over 200 of our speed dating London guests to tell us what emojis they use in different dating situations. Especially in the dating world, emojis can show what a man or woman is looking for during a conversation; a long term relationship, a cheeky flirt or a grade A ‘friend zone’ buddy.

Dating expert Danielle Waller said: “In dating situations, we take so many emotional cues from the face of our potential partner.”

"However, body language is now just part of a much bigger, broader on-going conversation with factors like technological communication helping us decipher the real meaning of what our date is saying.”

Our research showed that 94% of London singles use emojis to flirt. When talking to a potential partner, most daters (43% women and 37% men) tend to use the ‘blowing kisses’ emoji for a flirty message. Another all-time favourite is the ‘heart eyes’ emoji, which is used by 19% of the singles to flirt online. The survey also showed that daters just looking for a casual flirt, rather than a potential partner, are a big fan of the ‘winking face’ emoji, used by 29%.

If you think you’re being friend zoned (poor you!), keep an eye out for the classic smiley face – used by 40% to simmer down an over-zealous admirer.

Time to put this information into practice! Is he/she looking for a serious relationship or just a fling? Just have a look at the emoji and you know! Meet your match at one of our singles events,chat to them online afterwards and spot the signs with your new emoji knowledge. ;)