Gone are the days of handwritten letters that people used to send to their loved ones on joyous occasions, happy moments, and sorrowful times.
These little pictograms help people communicate, express and even share ideas without hesitation.
The internet world has now been engulfed by the these telling emojis, a vibrant and powerful form of digital expression in the 21st century. For netizens, July 17 isn't just another day – it's World Emoji Day, celebrated globally.
The communication of Emoji
There’s no denying that Emoji expressions have changed the communication landscape.
From a quick smiley in a text to full emoji-only replies, these little cute icons have become part and parcel of our daily lives, and we can’t even imagine expressing ourselves without them.
History of World Emoji Day
The first emoji was created in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita, an engineer working at a Japanese mobile operator, NTT Docomo.
He creates 176 emojis for the release of the Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo's integrated mobile internet service "i-mode", debuting in February 1999.
For only 250 characters the service was allowed which gave Kurita the challenge to figure out a way to communicate in an expressive but short way. In Yahoo Messenger, the oldest 'mainstream' emoji was used.
In 2010, by Unicode emoji was finally standardized. That is brands like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter can start creating their own versions of Emoji that would appear even if a message was sent from another operating system.
You might be surprised to know that Unicode 6.0 is the largest release of emoji yet, consisting of 994 characters like emotions, a pile of poo, families, hearts, animals, clothes, food, city images, clocks, and country flags.
Fun facts and Stats about Emoji
You might not have heard about these interesting fun facts before, so on this World Emoji Day 2025 , here’s everything you need to know.
According to USA Today, there are approximately 3,600 emojis on the iPhone.
A study by Nethunt found that about 44% of users prefer to purchase products that have been advertised using emojis.
Meanwhile, 70% of people think emojis are an accurate way of expressing thoughts. Additionally, 48% of netizens prefer emojis over typed-out shortcuts, according to Statistica.
More to know:
Google My Business Posts get twice the amount of clicks when there are emojis used.
As per Adobe, 44% of people prefer to buy something if an emoji is utilised.
Emojipedia mentions, "The use of the syringe emoji has been greatly increasing since December 2020.” The #WorldEmojiDay hashtag gets over four billion impressions every year.
"More than 700M emojis are used in Facebook posts every day," according to the World Emoji Day website.
In 2019, there were over 200 new emojis introduced. In 2021, the Loudly Crying Emoji dethroned Tears of Joy as Twitter's top emoji.
86% of emoji users on Twitter (X) are the age of 24 or younger. 49.7% of people use emojis as they help create a personal connection with people, According to a Statistica.
50% of people prefer to respond to messages if there is an emoji included. Adweek claims, 92% of consumers will use emojis.
SEMRush study reveals that there was a 3% increase in organic clicks when emojis were mentioned in the meta description. 83% of Gen Z customise emojis before using them.
“Using emojis in the subject line of emails increases the unique click rate by 28%,” according to Nethnut.
Instagram posts that use emojis have seen increased engagement rate by 48%.
According to PC magazine, 61 percent of people use emojis at work. There are more than 3,000 emojis as part of the Unicode Standard, with over 1,600 emojis representing people and over 150 variations of smiley faces, Zoominfo highlights.
Lastly, 50 percent of people prefer to respond to messages if there is an emoji included.
Who gave the nod to emojis?
The union Consortium publishes and approves a list of new emojis every year. Once finalized, these emojis are rolled out by mobile operating systems like Android and iOS. Fun fact, the consortium comprises members from tech giants like Netflix, Apple, Facebook, Google, and even Tinder, who vote and submit their opinions to make emojis official. So, there’s a method behind the madness- these giants manipulate emoji trends to cater to broader consumer markets.
Smile, Share, Repeat: The Emoji Revolution
In today’s turbulent times, emojis are defining of how we react to the situation in our daily routines.
From a humble smiley face to a global language of its own, emojis have completely revolutionized the way we the human beings, express ourselves online.
As we celebrate World Emoji Day 2025, it’s clear that these tiny icons have evolved far beyond novelty and are now an integral part of how we connect, empathize and communicate in the digital world.
Emojis are for all of us, so next time you send a text, don’t forget to add a smiley emoji- you never know, that tiny icon might just bring a smile to someone’s face.
