💬 The Wrap
It goes without saying that we've been getting a lot of questions about coronavirus emoji trends. Our new Deputy Emoji Officer Keith Broni has done the work, and here's the results. We're actively keeping an eye on how things look right now as well, so may follow up in the coming weeks.
I've also had a bunch of feedback suggesting emojis for "virus" instead of microbe, elbow bumping, working from home, and more.
While it's not on me to say whether any proposal submitted for current events couldn't also be broadly useful in the long-term, it's worth noting that Unicode rarely looks to add something today that might not see much use in a few years time. Campaigns to "rush through" an emoji don't really have any way of working, though platforms like Twitter can add temporary little emoji-like pictures after any hashtag, and often does this for sponsored and other public events.
For everyone now working from home, welcome! My personal preference is to work from a cafe, so I've instead setup ambient cafe noise out of a speaker alongside listening to music in a single AirPod. It's the small things 🔊☕️/🎶🎧
And if you want to know about Emojipedia itself: we all work remotely from one another already, and while of course we will be hit by a drop in advertising revenue throughout 2020, we're in a good position to weather the year ahead. In fact, visits to Emojipedia are higher than ever, possibly as a result of so much remote communication and collaboration.
Thanks as always for being an Emoji Wrap subscriber, or an Emojipedia user 💕
PS: here is some emoji art from subscriber Eric. If you're doing anything interesting in self iso, feel free to reply to this with details and it might be shared in a future email or on the tweets.
💭 Interesting
💪 Is It Time for an Elbow Bump Emoji?
In the time between me speaking to Arielle Pardes at Wired two weeks ago, and now, most people have gone from an elbow bump as fun alternative to handshakes or hugs, to literally no physical contact with others now and a broad requirement to stay at home.
I know a lot of emoji suggestions are mostly for fun or conversation (which is fine, I like fun too!), this is one reason Unicode takes its time with proposals. If an elbow bump proposal were considered this year, it wouldn't even hit the first phones until mid-2021 at the earliest.
(there is a long-standing possibility of emojis that can flip direction which would permit a left and right 💪, but at this stage, it's been considered a low priority by Unicode)
🦠 Spread of the Coronavirus Emoji
Lots of findings in here, but two key ones:
- The main use of 🦠 Microbe on Twitter is now to discuss coronavirus
- The most popular emoji in coronavirus-related tweets is: 😂 Face with Tears of Joy - but that might just be because it's always the most popular in any set of tweets.
Keith dug down into what is popular if you offset the usual popularity, and the charts are in this post.
Separately, a new coronavirus page on Emojipedia demonstrates some good tips in emoji form, including
- 🚫🤦 Don't touch your face
- 🚫🤧🤲 Don't sneeze into hands
- ✅🤧💪 Do sneeze into your elbow
- 🧼🖐⏲2️⃣0️⃣ Wash your hands regularly, for at least 20 seconds
- ✅📦😌 Have groceries and other items delivered to your home
- 🚫🛒😡 When using local shops, don't buy literally everything on the shelves. Leave enough for others 💕
😻 Hands On With Google's New Emoji Mashups
More combinations that Memoji stickers, fewer than Emoji Mashup Bot, Google's Emoji Kitchen is creatively done, and really provides some amusing and clever emoji combinations within Gboard.
Yes they send as stickers (images) not 'real emojis' that go within text, but that's how any kind of non-standard emoji has to be sent. Since publishing, there's also now a web version if you want to play on the computer, rather than on the phone.
🖐 TikTok 'emoji gesture' challenge goes viral during coronavirus lockdown
People were doing this on TikTok before lockdown, but anyway, I should try it sometime as I'm on TikTok now so stay tuned 🤪 and if you add me, come say hey and that you came from Emoji Wrap 👋
🍑 Emoji Spelling is Peachy
Can I announce this here? I guess so. Jane Solomon who you'll have noticed writing for Emojipedia since 2019, is now our Senior Emoji Lexicographer.
What does that mean? Well, as a lexicographer Jane has considerable experience writing dictionary definitions of words; but in her role at Emojipedia she will be in charge of all new definitions coming to emojis on the site.
Jane replaces John Kelly, who has been looking after lexicography at Emojipedia since 2018.
🆕 The Most Popular New Emojis of 2020
This feels a lifetime ago now, but these are the new emojis approved for 2020 that got the biggest response on Emojipedia's Twitter account. #1 and #2: Pinched Fingers and Transgender Flag.
See the two-handed version of pinched fingers demonstrated excellently by Mayor of Delia (in Italy) Gianfilippo Bancheri in a video to residents last week.
Expect the full Emoji 13.0 list to come to major platforms like iOS and Android in the second half of this year.
😘 The Chef’s Kiss in Emoji Form Will Soon Be a Reality
If you're like me, the headline of a Chef's Kiss emoji makes me think of something like this sticker pack from Jen Lewis, more than the new pinched fingers emoji coming to phones this year.
💬 Twitter Reacts to New 'Italian Hand Gesture' Emoji
Pinched fingers was certainly the 'media's pick' for new emoji to write about this year. I suspect like a lot of gestures, it will see decent real-world use as well.
🌍 Emojis, signs and mixed messages
Last link about that one emoji. Is the new emoji gesture "Italian, Arab, Israeli or generally Mediterranean?" It's pretty broad, which is a good thing.
Not every emoji needs one universal meaning; just like gestures aren't universal either.
👩🔬 Scientists ♥ Their Emojis, But It's Complicated
I enjoy an emoji review or analysis as much as the next person, but there is a fine line between scientific accuracy of an emoji, and simply being able to convey a broader concept quickly, at small sizes.
Where one doesn't sacrifice the other, great! But if you can't tell what an emoji is, it doesn't matter how accurate it is. I file most of these under entertainment more than necessary changes.
🛒 I used emoji to order groceries
I often get asked about how certain apps do their emoji search, and the truth is that most have their own custom mappings, where they manually tag certain emojis to correspond to various words or fields. Seems the only realistic way to handle this sort of thing, given how broad each actual emoji can be.
🚘 The most popular emoji plates during first year in Queensland revealed
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there only a choice of six emoji designs on these plates in the first place? I did enjoy this from the article, written completely straight-bat: "The emojis are decorations, not part of the number plate, meaning drivers involved in an accident do not need to draw their emoji when exchanging details with fellow a motorist."
🤗 Lastly
📙 For Emojipedia news as it breaks, follow Emojipedia on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. We're on Instagram, too.
🎙 Emoji Wrap podcast will be back after a hiatus, but you can find links to subscribe here.