With just 7% of communication being attributed to spoken words, and the remainder down to body language and tone of voice, it’s easy to see why communicating online has been described as cold and impersonal. Emoticons, emoji and stickers are helping make digital communication a bit more human.

"People think it's just an app that says 'Yo,'" Yo founder Arbel told the New York Times. "We like to call it context-based messaging.” Effectively, Yo really is just an app that says 'Yo'. So why has it already been used four million times and attracted $1 million of investment?

While WhatsApp wins over the West and WeChat conquers China, messaging app LINE has taken Japan by storm. With 400 million users worldwide, and 52 million in Japan alone, LINE's bright and vibrant customisable stickers are hugely popular – but can they really replace text?

How has the way we communicate online evolved? In the midst of raging debate around privacy and frictionless sharing, what does ‘ambient sharing’ tell us about modern forms of communion and intimacy?