70 | 15 AUGUST 2019 http://www.drum.co.za

though many

em, there’s a lot

ofgoodtoo.

Therearenearly3 000emojis zinging

theirwaythrough millions of messages

every day – and the number will swell

soon with the addition of more than 200

icons to Android and Apple devices.

Around a quarter of these are brand-

new, while the rest are variations on

existing emojis with new skin tone and

gender variations.

Inclusivity is the theme of the new

icons, with symbols representing

hearing- impaired people, those with

guide dogs, people in wheelchairs and

those with prosthetic limbs. 

The updates will also allow users to

choose the race and gender of both

people when choosing an emoji of a

couple. 

Some of the other emojis in the up-

coming launch include a sari, a falafel,

a flamingo and the highly anticipated

waffle.

A

PICTURE

thousand

sometimesall you

need isonepictureto

say exactlywhatyou

mean, how you’re feel-

ing or what you’re do-

ing.

Andwehavethefastest-growing

“language”intheworldtothankfor

this.So anda big totheinventors

ofemoji– we youand forwardto

manymoreyearsof timesonour

s and s.

Emojis are so much a part of life

now they even have their very own day,

which was recently celebrated the

worldoverbydevoteesofthedescrip-

tivepicturelingo.

Incaseyou’re , World Emoji Day is

celebrated on 17 July – and that’s no

random date: it’s the one chosen be-

cause it’s the date featured onthecalen-

dar emoji on the Apple keyboard.

Emojis are taking over the , people.

AKES YOU

avebecome “the body language

gitalage,” says linguistics expert

yanEvans, author of the book The

de.He believes emojis supplement

edconversation in the same way

language adds to person-to-

sonverbal conversation.

Emojis are important, he adds, as

eyoffer a richer, more emotion ally

enway of communicating.

“Text alone is impoverished. This

where emoji has come into its own.

s begun to allow digital communi-

toreplicate some of the non-

mmunicative cues available in

face-to-faceinteraction. Without emoji,

partofwhatprovides a well-rounded,

communicative message is missing.”

People who use emojis “are friendlier

and more approachable,” according to

the recently released Adobe Emoji Trend

Report, which found that 93% of emoji

users use them to “lighten the mood of

conversations”.

A total of 61% of people surveyed said

they used emojis at work. “Sharing hearts

and smiley faces may not feel as profes-

sional as traditional text,” technology news

website Digital Trends points out. “But the

study found using emojis at work increased

likeability and has a positive impact on your

credibility at work.”

As many as 65% of respondents said

they preferred using emojis to express

emotions instead of making a phone call.

3 019

The number of emojis currently

in use in Unicode Standard.

5 BILLION

The number of emojis sent on

Facebook Messenger in 2017.

1 BILLION

Facebook messages consisting

only of emoji sent last year.

R3,2 BILLION

The amount The Emoji Movie

grossed worldwide.

BY THE NUMBERS

SOURCES: BOXOFFICEMOJO.COM, BUSINESSINSIDER.CO.ZA, BUSTLE.COM, BRANDWATCH.COM, CNN.COM, EMOJIPEDIA.ORG, NEWYORKER.COM,

PCMAG.COM, TELEGRAPH.CO.UK, THEBLOG.ADOBE.COM, THEVERGE.COM, TIME.COM, WASHINGTONPOST.COM

AAndd even

people hate th

f dt

EEcansaya

words –but

ll

DEEP

IMPACT

Emojis have been

helping us to express

ourselves for 20 years

• and we’ll soon

have 200 new

ones

BY DENNIS CAVERNELIS

MOJIM

Emojisha

forthedig

ProfVyvy

EmojiCod

text-bas

body

pers

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the

op

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cation

verbalcom