Why Fandom Characters Dominate the Emoji Charts
- On the rankings, stories come before pictures
- Fandoms start moving long before anyone presses the Buy button
- What matters more than cuteness is whether people use it repeatedly
- Why characters continue to thrive on Naver and Tistory
- A character becomes a small profile for the writer
- On WordPress, placement is harder than cuteness
- Where people often get stuck when solving the problem themselves
- Organizing characters and post structure together with DecoBlocks
- Four guidelines for using fandom characters effectively on WordPress
- The winner of the rankings is not always the most famous character
- Frequently asked questions
- WordPress Plugins
On the subway ride home, someone sent a message. The words were brief, but a teary-eyed bear and a nodding rabbit appeared on the screen one after the other.
The surprising part came next. When I opened the emoji rankings, the top spots were packed with characters people already knew and loved—not just cute illustrations.
On the rankings, stories come before pictures
According to Kakao, several characters with established fan bases appeared among the most popular emojis of 2024, including Dew Ganadi, Manggeureojin Bear, Zanmang Loopy, Damgom-i and Chunsik.
These characters had already met people in many places before they were ever sold as emojis. People encountered them in videos, laughed with them in webtoons and came across them in merchandise shops, gradually growing familiar with them.
Choosing one, then, is not the same as trying out an unfamiliar image. It is closer to greeting a friend you already like.
As of 2024, Kakao had more than 700,000 individual emoji products in its catalog. The range of choices is no longer the size of a football field; it is more like an entire city.
When so many images are competing for attention, a face people can recognize instantly has an advantage. With a fandom character, the name and expression come to mind even on a small screen.
Fandoms start moving long before anyone presses the Buy button
A typical character is judged for the first time on its sales page. A fandom character, by contrast, has already been chosen several times before it ever reaches that page.
Fans share news of a new emoji release. They capture favorite scenes, send the emojis to friends and tell one another which expressions are most useful.
The process is a little like forming a queue outside a shop. The fact that so many people are already there gives hesitant shoppers a small measure of confidence.
Kakao said its Emojis Plus subscription service had more than 2.5 million subscribers in 2024. As access to a wide range of emojis becomes easier, fandom characters appear more often in everyday conversations.
The unexpected thing is that fans do not necessarily buy emojis to express extraordinary emotions. They also buy them because they want to attach a favorite character to everyday situations—commuting, eating, apologizing or offering encouragement.
What matters more than cuteness is whether people use it repeatedly
An image that makes someone laugh once is not necessarily an image they want to use every day. Popular emoji sets include phrases people regularly need, such as “Got it,” “Thank you,” “Sorry” and “Good night.”
Fandom characters recast these basic phrases in their own voices and expressions. Even “It’s okay” can feel different when it comes from a character you love.
In the end, fandom alone is not what drives a character up the rankings. The strongest reason to buy appears when that emotional attachment meets features people can use every day.
Why characters continue to thrive on Naver and Tistory
In a messaging app, emojis fill the gaps in a conversation. On a blog, they set the mood and give readers a place to pause.
Naver lets users add stickers directly from the writing screen, while its Naver OGQ Market offers both paid and free stickers.
The OGQ Market’s popularity charts currently show same-day rankings in hourly intervals, while the daily chart combines sales and view counts over a 24-hour period. The charts feature everyday characters such as hamsters, rabbits and cats alongside stickers designed to decorate blog posts.
This offers an important clue. Blog readers tend to look first for expressions and actions they can place directly into their own posts, rather than for an expansive fictional universe.
That does not mean fandom characters lose their power. A familiar character can quickly convey a writer’s feelings, and readers can often sense the tone of a post from the expression alone.
The same principle applies on Tistory and other blogging platforms. A small image can change a post’s first impression, break up a long paragraph and reveal the writer’s personality.
A character becomes a small profile for the writer
Some blogs use the same character every time. The writer adds a smiling face when saying hello and a dejected expression on days when something has gone wrong.
Readers may not remember the writer’s name, but they may remember the character first. The character becomes part of the blog’s identity, while repeated use works like a small brand.
Still, using a character everywhere simply because it is famous can weaken its effect. Placing a large image over the key photo in a travel review can obscure important information, while an overly playful expression in a serious guide can undermine trust.
On WordPress, placement is harder than cuteness
Anyone trying to add character stickers to WordPress soon runs into practical obstacles. They have to determine which file to use, where to upload it and whether it will display properly on a phone—all at once.
Messaging and blogging services provide designated places for stickers. On WordPress, however, writers often have to set the image size, alignment, spacing and alternative text themselves.
At first, uploading a single image may seem like the end of the process. In practice, the character may appear too large on a phone, create awkward gaps between sentences or slow the page down.
Animated images and large files are particularly eye-catching, but using too many in one post can interrupt the reading pace. Visitors may even leave while waiting for the page to load.
Where people often get stuck when solving the problem themselves
- Reducing the file size can make the image blurry.
- Increasing the dimensions can make it spill beyond a phone screen.
- Leaving out alternative text removes the image’s meaning for some readers.
- Unclear copyright status can create problems after publication.
- Alignment can vary from one theme or editor to another.
There is also the question of permission to use the character. Downloading a favorite character from the internet and uploading it is entirely different from using a file that you are authorized to use.
Fixing everything manually is possible, but the more posts you have, the more often you have to repeat the same tasks. Resizing images in older posts or adding missing descriptions can take far longer than expected.
This is why tools are useful—not because they choose attractive images for you. Their value lies in checking recurring problems with sizes, URLs, descriptions and placement across multiple posts at once.
Organizing characters and post structure together with DecoBlocks
If you want to place characters in line with the flow of a WordPress post while refining the structure of the text, you can use DecoBlocks. DecoBlocks is a WordPress plugin that adds decorative elements such as speech bubbles, boxes, highlights, lists and tables of contents through blocks or shortcodes.
Important sentences can be marked with Highlight (Yellow), related information grouped with Section Box (Solid) and sections separated with Divider Line – Solid. In a long post, Auto Table of Contents automatically creates a table of contents after publication based on the H2 and H3 headings. Character stickers can be added with Insert Character Sticker, allowing emotional expression and informational elements to be managed in the same editing environment.
Four guidelines for using fandom characters effectively on WordPress
The first consideration is size. Unless the character is the focus of the guide, it is usually best to start small enough that it does not push the body text aside.
The second is placement. Rather than inserting a character randomly in the middle of a sentence, place it below a subheading, after a brief explanation or where the tone of the piece changes. The reading flow will feel more natural.
The third is purpose. Decide first whether the character is decorative, expressing an emotion or guiding an action. When its role is clear, you can reuse the same image without it becoming as tiresome.
Once you have defined the character’s role, you can organize the surrounding text by the same principle. Speech bubbles work for dialogue-like expressions, Section Box (Solid) for grouping related information and Highlight (Yellow) for emphasizing a particular sentence.
In DecoBlocks, these elements and character stickers can be added from the block inserter or the classic editor. Dividing decorative elements according to their purpose helps you keep characters and information visually distinct.
The fourth is description. Add brief, accurate alternative text so that readers who cannot see the screen can still understand what the image conveys.
For example, “a cute character” is less useful than “a rabbit character waving with both hands.” The description needs to include both the image’s appearance and its action to function as information.
Adding a fandom character to WordPress is not about transferring the popularity rankings wholesale. It is about translating the character’s familiarity so that it serves the purpose of your own post.
The winner of the rankings is not always the most famous character
According to data Kakao released for its 14th anniversary in 2025, the cumulative number of individual emoji products had surpassed 850,000, while total messages sent had exceeded 300 billion. In this enormous market, not every character survives for long.
Characters people keep coming back to tend to have three things in common. They have a face that is recognizable at a glance, words and actions people use repeatedly, and a reason for fans to return.
Fandom may be the starting point that pushes a character up the rankings, but usability is what keeps it there. No matter how famous a character is, it can be displaced by the next trend if people have nowhere to use it in real conversations and posts.
This is especially important for WordPress operators. Instead of copying the character everyone else is using, they should first consider the moments when their own readers need a laugh or reassurance.
Whether you place a lighthearted greeting character in the opening sentence or a nodding character after a long explanation can change how much effort the reader feels the post requires.
Ultimately, fandom characters dominate the emoji rankings not simply because they look attractive. People use familiar, beloved characters to send emotions more quickly and with less risk of misunderstanding.
When bringing that familiarity to WordPress, one principle is worth remembering: the character should not replace the article as its protagonist. It should guide readers and help them stay with the text longer.
Applying this principle to WordPress editing means considering the surrounding structure of the post as well as the character’s expression. DecoBlocks lets users add speech bubbles, boxes, highlights, lists, tables of contents and character stickers through blocks or shortcodes.
Using these tools, you can plan the character’s role alongside the structure of the post. The character does not replace the text, but it can consistently reinforce the writer’s chosen way of expressing ideas.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Will using a fandom character bring more visitors to my blog?
A. A single character is unlikely to increase traffic on its own. However, it can help convey the mood of a post quickly and make the writer’s personality more memorable.
Q. What kinds of character stickers work well on WordPress?
A. Choose a character that fits the subject of the post and the emotions you express most often. A character showing a reaction can work well in a travel post, while one waving or signaling confirmation may suit a how-to guide.
Q. Can I upload a popular character image I found online to WordPress?
A. Giving credit does not by itself grant permission to use an image. To stay safe, check the official terms of use, including whether commercial use and modifications are allowed.
Q. Can a tool make this easier? What kind of tool should I use?
A. You can use WordPress tools that offer image compression, resizing, alternative-text checks and media organization. However, tools cannot determine whether you have permission to use a character or whether it fits the post, so a person must make the final check.
Q. I have already published many posts. Can I organize the character images all at once?
A. If the images follow consistent rules for URLs and sizes, bulk-checking or editing features can save time. It is safest to test the process on a few posts before applying it across the entire site.
Q. Can I use a table of contents and character expressions together in a long WordPress post?
A. DecoBlocks uses Auto Table of Contents to automatically create a table of contents after publication based on the H2 and H3 headings, and Insert Character Sticker to add installed character stickers to the post.
You can also use speech bubbles or Section Box (Solid) to divide the content into sections. The right character and placement should be determined by the purpose of the post and the reader’s path through it.
