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ALTOONA, Pa. — Did you use an emoji in any of your messages yet today? ?
If you did, you’re in good company. According to AdWeek, 92% of online users report sending emoji on a daily basis. (And yes, the plural of “emoji” is also “emoji”!)
And, with July 17 being World Emoji Day, it’s a great day to punctuate your sentences with one of the little yellow images. ?
What is World Emoji Day?
In honor of the date shown on the emoji calendar ?, the unofficial global holiday that celebrates the pictorial language takes place annually on July 17.
It’s been celebrated since 2014, and it was created by Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge, according to World Emoji Day’s website.
The holiday aims to celebrate the more than 3,600 icons that have become a staple in modern communication since the 2010s.
And although the digital language has reached widespread global usage in recent years, its story begins in our very own state.
Who invented emoji?
Before emoji were the circle faces we know them as today, a new idea for online communication hailed from emoji forefather Scott E. Fahlman at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University.
According to the computer science professor’s website, he suggested in 1982 that his students should use “:-)” in online messages that were meant as jokes and “:-(” for statements intended seriously.
Years later (and on the other side of the world), Japanese artist Shigetaka Kurita created his own set of 12 by 12-pixel illustrations to represent weather, vehicles and other everyday objects, according to Wired.
Use of these tiny images quickly grew in late 1990s Japan, both in personal and corporate communication. But it wasn’t until 2010 that the language was standardized thanks to the Unicode Consortium, which made the symbols consistent across devices.
How do new Emoji come into use?
Every year, dozens of new emoji or variations of existing ones are released to the public. Some of the most recent releases from 2022 include a peapod, pushing hands and the long-anticipated plain pink heart, according to USA Today.
The process of getting a new emoji from the brainstorming stage to your phone keyboard isn’t as simple as you might think, though.
A new idea for an emoji must first be formally approved by the Unicode Consortium. The proposal requires a description of why the emoji is necessary and a potential design concept, according to Wired.
The Unicode Consortium’s emoji subcommittee meets twice a week to discuss all things emoji, and a new emoji can be born only when the subcommittee reaches a consensus regarding its creation.
The entire approval and design process can take up to two years, according to Wired.
But, if you’ve always wished there was a specific emoji that just doesn’t exist yet, there could be hope.
Anyone is able to submit a proposal for a new emoji by visiting Unicode’s website, so your design might just become one of next year’s new additions.
Recent years have specifically seen increasing inclusivity in the array of available icons, according to Wired. Emoji representing cultural foods, a variety of flags and different family structures have increased in number and potential variations, giving users the ability to more precisely communicate through images.
Have emoji changed how we communicate?
The emoji keyboard was released for Apple iOS in 2011 and Android systems in 2013, according to World Economic Forum. This addition quickly allowed users to communicate in a universally-understandable way without the language barriers of traditional texting.
According to Wired, the emoticons we tend to use for fun can have a more meaningful impact internationally, though.
By using pictures that are instantly recognizable to everyone, regardless of what language you speak, we can collectively communicate about events to a broader audience at the same time.
This could be particularly helpful in relaying information about diseases, threats or other important public safety information.
So what about Pa.’s favorite Emoji?
In Pennsylvania, the emotion we most like to capture through tiny icons is laughter with the “face with tears of joy” emoji: ?.
According to Verizon, this icon receives over 180 million uses in the U.S. yearly. It’s also the top pick in 34 other states.
World Emoji Day’s website reports that ? is also the most-used emoji on Twitter and across Apple devices.
Here’s a list of the top ten most popular emoji nationally in 2021, according to Verizon:
- ?
- ?
- ❤️
- ?
- ?
- ?
- ?
- ?
- ?
- ?
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