Emoji is really a language all of its own these days. Even though emojis are mostly popular in text messaging and social media posting, you can now even find games, apps, social networks, and books based entirely off of the emoji trend.
Emoji were first introduced by Japanese cell phones in 1997, but became popular after 2010. As of last year, there were estimated to be almost 3,000 emoji.
The majority of emoji users Adobe surveyed (93%) said they often used the small text messaging icons, ranging from smiley faces to prayer symbols to “lighten the mood.” Additionally, a significant chunk of users say those who use emoji are “friendlier and more approachable.”
The study comes as Pew estimates some 70 percent of Americans send text messages. Some 781 billion text messages are sent every month in the US, according to Statistic Brain.
One of the noteworthy highlights in the report is is that 65% of emoji users say they’re more comfortable expressing their emotions through emojis than a phone call. Besides allowing an easy route convey feelings, emoji also serve to help businesses. The report also says that 58% of users are more likely to open an email from a brand that has an emoji in the subject line.
On Tuesday, Apple and Google unveiled new emoji ranging from falafels and service dogs in an effort to spread messages of inclusivity.
Adobe surveyed 1,000 emoji users across the US aged 16 to 73 in May of this year. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
The most popular emojis :
- The face with tears of joy
- The heavy black heart (red heart)
- The black universal recycling symbol
- The smiling face with heart-shaped eyes
- The black heart suit
- The loudly crying face
- The smiling face with smiling eyes
- The unamused face
- The two hearts
- The face throwing a kiss
Any of the red/pink hearts, face with tears of joy, and smiling face with heart-shaped eyes almost always dominate the top spots. This could change over time, especially as additional emoji are introduced and embraced by more platforms around the web.
A slightly older study from SwiftKey revealed other ways we tend to use emoji. Using over one billion pieces of data in several different categories, some of the most popular emoji used in specific countries were revealed.
Popular Emojis by Country
- The number one emoji in the U.S. is the eggplant, followed by others like the poultry leg, the birthday cake, the bag of money, the iPhone and others.
- Canada uses the smiling poop emoji the most, followed surprisingly by other emoji in categories that are more typically American—like violent emojis, raunchy emojis, and sports emojis.
- Russian speakers actually revealed themselves as being the most romantic, accounting for three times as many romance-themed emoji as the average person.
- The French aren’t far behind Russia and live up to its romantic reputation being the culture that used heart emojis four times more than any other.
- Australia has the most care-free emoji report, being leading users of emoji for alcohol, drugs, junk food and holiday celebrations.
Happy face emoji account for about 44 percent of all that are used, followed by sad faces at 14 percent, hearts at 13 percent, hand gestures at 5 percent, and the rest at very small percentages. French happened to be the only language where its top emoji was a heart and not a smiley face.
