Priya SinghJul 16, 2021 16:44:15 IST
When was the last time you used an emoji? Just now? Or maybe a couple of minutes ago? Because it can’t be longer than that! This is how hinged we are to these emojis for our daily digital conversations. Ever since 2014, the world has been celebrating an the World Emoji Day on 17 July.
World Emoji Day is celebrated on 17 July. Image: Microsoft
Though it is difficult to go back as to when we first started using them, but if I think about it, my first memory of an emoticon is sending “;-)” on text messages to my friends. However, the first “fun emoji” that really stayed with me was Microsoft’s paper clip animated emoji called “Clippy”, which back then, was more like a wizard that popped up while I was making my school assignments on Microsoft Word asking “how can I help you?”. The good news is that Microsoft has recently announced to bring the Clippy animated emoji back! Ah, the nostalgia!
Remember Microsoft’s Clippy?
From AR stickers, Giphy to memoji avatars this segment has evolved dramatically over the past years. Here’s a look at what different platforms and tech companies are doing this World Emoji day:
Facebook: Hear your emojis now!
Soundmoji. Yes. You read that right. Facebook has introduced a new Soundmoji library where users will find sound effects and “famous sound bites” with the 2D emoticon. These include crickets, clapping, drumroll evil laughter and more.
Soundmoji
You can even share famous audio clips from artists like Rebecca Black and TV shows and movies like Universal Pictures’ F9, NBC and Universal Television’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Netflix and Shondaland’s Bridgerton. “Ah, the drama of it all.”
Users will also have an option to preview the soundmoji before sending them across on the messenger platform.
Microsoft: Bringing back Clippy and new 3D emojis
In addition to bringing back the 3D emoji Clippy, the company has also announced to replace the 3D emoticons with 2D ones. In the coming months, the company will also release five new 3D emojis for its users. As per the company, “it was critical for us to preserve the intent of the emotion while putting our design spin on them. Finally, because we want people to trust that they’ll be engaging with uplifting and inspiring designs, we leaned into bright, saturated colors and bold forms!”
Happy early #WorldEmojiDay! We’re rethinking our emoji to better reflect the world we live in and create a more expressive, emotive, and cohesive experience. From a simple expression
to stylized animal friend
we’ve got you covered across all the feels https://t.co/vhr5P1UAXY pic.twitter.com/sha5hkN3ug
— Microsoft Design (@MicrosoftDesign) July 15, 2021
Microsoft has also emphasised that the users need new emojis for workplaces that are not very frivolous to use and yet playful. Below are a few examples of concept sketches for the said new emojis.
Concept design for workplace appropriate emojis. Image: Microsoft
People will also be able to use animated emojis on Skype and Microsoft Teams as well. These animated emojis include Smiling Face with Hearts, bisexual pride, genderfluid pride, and non-binary pride flags, Partying Face emoji and more.
New animated emojis for Skype
Snapchat: Because pandemic is still not over
Since we can never thank our COVID warriors enough for what they have done for us in the past 1 year, and pandemic is still looming over our heads, Snapchat decided to release bitmojis themed on that.
Snapchat Bitmoji
On the occasion of World Emoji Day, Snapchat has introduced a new bitmoji sticker that reads, “You are essential” in appreciation of frontline workers. To spread awareness about vaccination, there are two new bitmoji stickers: “Get Your Shot”, and “Got My Shot”.
Unicode Consortium: New heart hands, Person with Crown emojis? Yes, Yes, Yes
Just like every year, Unicode Consortium has released a draft of emojis that will be considered for the upcoming Unicode 14.0. These emojis include a melting smiley face, a disco ball, beans and a pointing finger and handshakes in various skin tones, heart hands (remember Taylor Swift’s signature gesture?), pregnant person and more. The final emojis will be announced on 14 September this year and they will make their way to the users in late 2021 and 2022.
Draft Unicode 14.0
Emojis the new love language? Dating apps say so!
Not just the online conversations, but the digital realm as a whole has witnessed the surge of emoji usage in different forms. For example, take dating sites, users are actively using emojis in their bios to express themselves.
As per a Bumble report, the app witnessed an 89 percent rise in emoji usage this year as compared to the last year, especially in profile bios. The most used emoji in the bio is the classic red heart. The top five most-used emojis include red heart, the winking emoji, the smiling emoji with tears running down, the emoji with the cool sunglasses, and the emoji with the blushing smile.
While many prefer to use the classic emojis, Tinder, a dating app, revealed that GenZ is loving the internet lingo of emojis and are using it more creatively in the bios. The most used bios with emojis include “Well, here I am 
”, “Can I ship you a “, “Titanic. That’s my 
. Sorry not sorry ?”, “If you were a , you’d be impeccable.”, “Do you know how much does this weigh? Enough to break the ice! ” and more!
Bumble says that emojis have also become a new love language for many and Bumble users in India. For flirting, texting and sexting, they love to use emojis like the devil emoji, the flame/fire emoji, donut emoji, the eggplant emoji and more!
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