Opinion: Why have emojis taken the world by storm?

By Angel Chen 😇
Emojis have taken the world by storm – or perhaps to put it better – they have brightened the world with their emoji cuteness. 🥰
It may not come as a surprise that these tiny icons have a whole day (17 July) dedicated to celebrating their existence. Using symbols to represent emotions isn’t a new concept and emoticons (punctuation to show emotions) were the original symbols. Then they were replaced with emojis, but why?  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Shigetaka Kurita made the first emoji set in 1999 as part of a team working on a Japanese mobile-internet-platform. Originally intended for the Japanese Pocket Bells, he took inspiration from Kanji and the weather to create simple black and white 12x 12 pixel images. His main aim was for people to communicate effectively when limited to only 250 characters. 😱 Emojis took over emoticons as we moved away from our desks and keyboards to messaging, DMing and snapping from our phones, using the conveniently available emoji keyboard which is now a must have!
At the time they were for the cheap Japanese pocket bells, but as more people turned to their mobile phones, Apple released their own emoji keyboard and emojis really took off in 2012, replacing emoticons. As technology improves, emojis are also evolving with Apple unveiling 20 of 59 later to be released emojis today with more skin tones showing the diversity which we celebrate in our world and the multi-cultural society we live in here in the UK. The graphics of emojis are always improving and many phone companies are taking a page from Apple’s book and creating Animojis, does anyone else like amusing themselves making funny expressions on Huawei’s Chameleon Animoji? 🦎
As time has progressed, more and more people are using their phones, and even making careers from their phones. Many of Generation Z can’t live without these devices. Remembering when we had to wait until high school to get a phone? Now kids as young as 5 are addicted to these revolutionary devices, making cute Tik Toks. As they navigate their way through learning to read and write, emojis are there to help convey their emotions if they don’t yet know how to write the words. Or for some of us they are used to represent things we don’t want to write in words 😉, or can’t express, in words. ❤️
Shigetaka Kurita himself said during a Guardian interview: “It’s difficult to express yourself properly in so few characters… [Emojis] are universal, so they are useful communication tools that transcend language.” Well emojis have lived up to their purpose, a staple in many people’s conversations nowadays.
Language has always been a barrier around the world; music has been described as a universal language but what about emojis? Emojis help to communicate feelings replacing words with simple images and using some of the other emojis to emphasise phrases. Although certain emojis may have different meanings for the different generations just as ‘LOL’ does.
Emojis can help show the tone especially for any of us that worry about how one word answers will be received – a single emoji can make it acceptable especially 😂 the most popular emoji, a useful tool to brighten everyone’s day or make you cringe with how it can over-used some are… I’m guilty as charged.
Now emojis are a marketing strategy, increasing engagement in social media across the world and appealing to the younger demographic. Emojis are eye catching and colourful emphasising the simplest of messages with e.g. numbering 1️⃣, 2️⃣, 3️⃣ I think when people see emojis the most is in social media captions. One can’t help but approve of a simple ❤️🌹❤️ caption compared to a lengthy paragraph.
Around the world emojis have made their mark: on Wechat a Chinese social media, they have their own branch of stickers sparked by the increased use of emojis. With unique icons exclusive to their platform it’s a successful app to build a business on, once again using emojis to draw the eye to the enticing products users may be sharing on their ‘Moments’ tab. A few simple icons can convey a whole host of different meanings, and I’m sure you’ve seen trending on Twitter the ‘guess the meaning’ emojis games.
Emojis have embedded themselves in our lives in the form of texts, merchandise and movies. Although the movie didn’t receive mind-blowing 🤯 reviews, it once again shows how prevalent emojis are in today’s society, as does the fact many companies are making money simply selling ‘stickers’.
So what does the future hold for emojis? 🤔