World Emoji Day 2021: The seventh edition of World Emoji Day is being celebrated on Saturday. Emojis have become an integral part of digital communication over the years since they somewhat try to fill the void left by lack of body language in written communication, and the various innovations that have taken place in the area of emojis to involve symbols for virtually every emotion and object is a feat that indeed does need to be celebrated. On the occasion of the World Emoji Day this year, social media giants Facebook and Twitter shared some fun statistics they noticed on their respective platforms with regard to emojis.
Emoji trends on Twitter
Microblogging site Twitter shared insights regarding the use of emojis among people in India on the platform as observed between January 1 and June 30 this year.
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On Twitter, during this time, the laughing (or tears of joy) emoji was used the most, followed by the prayer emoji, crying emoji, thumbs up emoji, ROFL (or tilted laughing) emoji, heart eyes emoji, pleading face emoji, smile emoji, fire emoji, and lastly the grinning emoji with smiling eyes.
Twitter also looked at the most popular emojis in six different categories of conversations that occurred on the platform during this period, and found that in conversations related to sports and fitness, the flexed biceps emoji was used the most, followed by runner, cricket, cartwheel and surfer emojis.
Meanwhile, in conversations around hobbies and activities, camera/photography emoji was the most popular one, after which dancing emoji was used the most. These were followed by headphones/music, books/reading and colour palette/art emojis.
As far as the food and beverages area is concerned, the birthday cake emoji was used the most, followed by beer mug, chocolate bar, french fries and then lollipop emojis. The 100 points emoji was most used by people to express their appreciation for someone or something, after which came the bouquet emoji, then the applause, G.O.A.T or greatest of all time, and then medal emojis.
Conversations surrounding nature saw rose emoji being used the most, followed by sunrise, sun with face, glowing star and cherry blossom emojis.
The sixth category that Twitter considered was COVID-19 pandemic and conversations during the very severe second wave as well as before and after the wave’s peak during this time saw the prayer emoji being used the most. This was followed by the wear a mask emoji, SOS emoji, stay home emoji and hospital emoji, the company said.
World Emoji Day: Trends on Facebook
Facebook shared the top three emojis used by people on the platform on the basis of their age groups, saying that the Gen Zs, falling within the bracket of 18-year-olds to 24-year-olds using Facebook, used the heart emoji the most, followed by the laughing emoji and the thanks or prayer emoji came last.
Meanwhile, the Millennials on the platform, between 25 years and 44 years, most used the thanks or the prayer emoji, followed by the heart emoji and then the cake or the birthday emoji. Among people aged above 45 years, the thanks or prayer emoji was the most frequently used, followed by the heart emoji and then the flower emoji.
Giving a general idea regarding the emojis related to COVID-19, the platform added that it also said that while the use of the emoji face wearing the medical mask and that of the microbe declined, the use of the syringe emoji increased.
Moreover, in India, the cake or the birthday emoji is the most popular food or beverage-related emoji on Facebook as well, followed by chocolate, pastry and then candy emojis.
