Since their release back in 2011, emojis have become huge in the written language used online these days. And to fully grasp the extent of their popularity, it is enough to mention that emojis are the new “LOL” of social-media.
That’s right! The adorable small faces have become even more than internet slang. Goodbye “lol” and “xoxo”, hello laughing/crying face and all colored hearts! People have given a very warm welcome to emojis, but their success is unbelievable.
“The vocabulary of Instagram is shifting…with a decline in Internet slang corresponding to rise in the usage of emoji,” writes Thomas Dimson, software engineer at Instagram.
According to the research conducted by Instagram, the Facebook app that included emojis in its keyboard since 2011, people are using at least one or two emojis per comment or description. Moreover, comments formed entirely of emojis are not a rare sight on Instagram anymore.
This actually became the focus of even more research conducted by the company, that wants to fully grasp the meaning that their users have given to the emojis. While it is obvious what the laughing faces are associated with, it is not always clear what the meaning of a monkey face or an emoji similar to Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Scream” is exactly. These findings of this research will be published soon.
The range of the emoji keyboard is ever-growing, making it available for Instagram users to express their thoughts in an illustration filled way . You can find everything from an extensive range of food and drinks, to pretty much any animal that you can think of, to shoes, clothes and various accessories, to sports and even holiday symbols.
The success of the emojis is built on the amazing foundation laid by once famous Yahoo Messenger emoticons. These were only small yellow faces that expressed different emotions. Among them are the widely discussed smiley face, the ever-friendly big grin emoticon and extremely cool looking smug face.
Since the age of Yahoo Messenger, the diversity of emoticons has grown tremendously and if this keeps up, Instagram users will never have to use letters ever again. Even connective words can be substituted with enough wit by all the arrows and lines available.
According to Instagram itself, Finland is the biggest emoji lover, with 63 percent of Finnish posts containing emojis. It is followd by Francw, with 50 percent and the UK with 48 percent. Tanzania, on the other hand is at the opposing end, with a mere 20 percent.
This is why Instagram and Facebook have made emoji hashtags available and they actually promise to document their entire journey up to this point in the near future. This means that emojis can now actually be the face of online campaigns, since this was an obvious trend observed in recent written social-media. For instance, a red heart followed by a green one is the a symbol of St. Patrick’s Day and next year it can be included in a hashtag campaign.
Things have come a long way since the days where people thought that an emoticon would add weight to their comments. Now you cannot survive in the colorful buzzing life of social media without knowing your emojis. Not only are they a valuable part of all trending comments and descriptions, but emojis are the new “LOL” of social media, and underestimating them is no longer an option!
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