Read the Room

Before interpreting any social media text, identify the register. Everything else follows from this.

The Four Registers

Sincere: earnest, personal, means what it says. "This genuinely changed my life" with a long personal story.
Ironic: says one thing, means another. Exaggeration, emoji mismatch, deadpan delivery. "wow so original 🙄"
Performative: audience-aware, playing to the crowd. Engagement bait, hot takes crafted for reaction, "unpopular opinion" that's actually popular.
Parasocial: addressing a creator like a close friend. "SO proud of you!!" from a stranger. Not insincere — just a different relationship than it appears.

Get the register wrong and you'll misread everything downstream. When in doubt, check for irony first — it's the most commonly missed.

Emoji modify meaning the way adverbs modify verbs. They don't decorate — they redirect.