These days, a message without an emoji can feel empty and dull. In 2022, Adobe released an interesting report that found most Koreans think emojis make digital communication at work smoother and help build camaraderie among colleagues. Many even believe emojis help increase trust. It's amazing how powerful emojis can be!
Emojis have become an essential, friendly, and positive tool for communication in the digital age. But have you ever wondered how emojis became a natural part of our lives?
#1. The Beginning of Emojis You Didn't Know
The origin of emojis lies in emoticons. The word "emoticon" is a blend of "emotion" and "icon."
It all started in 1982 when Scott Fahlman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, suggested using :-) to indicate a joke. This marked the beginning of emoticons.
Hold on a second, ‘emoji’ and ‘emoticon’ might seem similar, but they’re actually a bit different. According to the dictionary, an emoticon (emoticon) uses text and symbols to express feelings or thoughts, while an emoji (emoji) uses pictures to convey meaning.
With the advent of the smartphone era, emojis evolved from emoticons. But did you know that emojis originated in Japan? They first appeared in Japan in 1999. The name "emoji" comes from the Japanese word "emoji." So, it’s clear that Japan is the birthplace of emojis!
#2. Emojis Take Flight and Conquer the World
Remember the days before emojis, when we used to send text messages with symbols like :) ';-)' Feels like just yesterday, right?
In 2008, cute picture emojis started appearing on phones, thanks to SoftBank’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, who included them in the iPhone 3G. Google then made emojis accessible to everyone and began a project to register them with Unicode.
What’s Unicode? It’s a special code that helps computers recognize text, allowing us to use different fonts and languages.
Google’s project succeeded in 2010, adding emojis to Unicode 6.0, becoming a global standard. In 2011, Apple introduced the emoji keyboard on the iPhone, making it easy for everyone to send emojis.
#3. Positive Change: The Diversity of Emojis
We all love using emojis. They capture our thoughts and feelings. In late 2019, the Unicode Consortium introduced new emojis, like 'female farmer' and 'same-sex couple,' to represent more diverse values. It’s awesome to see emojis evolving and showing that our society is more inclusive and open-minded.
In 2019, Google launched 53 new gender-neutral emojis. Their goal was to respect diversity and let everyone use emojis that feel right for them, regardless of gender.
Apple, Twitter, and Microsoft also added a bunch of new emojis to their updates, including ones that represent LGBTQ+ folks, people with disabilities, and more. They're working hard to make emojis more diverse. Adobe even released a global emoji diversity report, which showed that many people are excited about new emojis that embrace different genders and cultural identities.
google emojis Version 15.0 . set of popular emoji face for social network
#4. How Visually Impaired People Use Emojis
A tactile graphic version of emojis on the Dot Pad
Ever wonder how visually impaired people use emojis, a big part of communication today? Let’s take WhatsApp, for example. Visually impaired users can use 'VoiceOver' or 'TalkBack' to hear descriptions of the emojis sent to them. For instance, if someone sends a WhatsApp emoji of a bear working at a computer, it is used just to say, "WhatsApp emoji, 12:21 PM." Now, it provides a detailed description like, "Working, computer, bear, animated emoji, 12:21 PM."
Soon, with the Dot Pad, users can feel emojis through braille and images, and AI technology will help recommend the right emojis for different situations. Isn’t that amazing?
It’s so important for everyone to communicate easily and express a range of emotions in the digital world. We hope to see more developments like sound-emitting and tactile emojis so visually impaired people can have richer and more vivid online experiences. 😊