It’s the World Emoji Day! Here’s 10 fun facts about the history of emojis :)

From the Y2K until the rise of social media and the A.I. future, our lives have been intertwined with the online world and the online communication that has grown to be a major part of our existence. We cannot deny this. And when we think of online communication, apps and chats, we think of emojis! These little, cute symbols that have the power to express how we feel, what we want, who we are, in a fun, informative way. 

Emojis are so important right now that they have their own international day: the World Emoji Day that is celebrated on July 17th every year. So, let’s dive in and learn 10 fun facts about emojis, the digital icons that are everywhere around us!

1.

The first set of 176 emojis was created in 1999 by the Japanese designer Shigetaka Kurita for a mobile internet platform called “i-mode”. These first emojis were pixel-based and aimed to convey feelings.

2. 

Before emojis, there were emoticons. Emoticons are combinations of characters, punctuation marks, letters and numbers that are arranged in order to create a facial expression, while emojis are icons representing emotions, objects, people, situations. 

3.

In 2010, emojis were so popular that the Union Consortium - an organization responsible for maintaining text standards across computers - decided to recognize them and index them, meaning that now emojis were officially on their way to evolve as a new digital “language”.

4.

Emoji keyboards were added to iOS by Apple in 2011 and in Androids in 2013.

5.

In 2015, diverse skin tone options were made available for human emojis, making a big step towards inclusivity and representing a wider range of identities in emojis. (There are still a lot of talks when it comes to emoji diversity and the problem goes way beyond just race).

6.

In 2015 Oxford Dictionaries' "Word of the Year" was the "Face with Tears of Joy" emoji. 

7. 

Dictionary.com was the first dictionary to add explanations to emojis in 2018, legitimizing even more the importance and influence emojis have as a linguistic tool.

8.

Also in 2018, over 900 million emojis were sent daily without text on Facebook Messenger.

9.

The World Emoji Day is celebrated on July 17th because the “calendar” emoji on Apple devices shows this exact date! 

10.

Only 7% of people use the peach emoji as a fruit.

What’s your favorite emoji? Head to our IG and drop us the coolest emoji ever!

images: PF Grand Gothik Emojis