World Emoji Day: Nearly a billion emojis sent each day on Facebook Messenger

17 July 2018 - 13:49
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The biggest day for emoji sends around the world is New Year's Eve.
Image: 123RF / Georgejmclittle The biggest day for emoji sends around the world is New Year's Eve.

For World Emoji Day, Facebook has revealed that more than 900 million emojis are sent every day, without text, on Messenger.

The top five most-used emojis on Facebook Messenger are, in order, the crying with laughter face, the hearts in eyes face, the blowing a kiss face, the heart emoji and the blushing cheeks face. In fact, the heart emoji is being used twice as much worldwide in Q2 2018 as at the same time last year.

In total, almost 2,800 emojis are available and almost all of them (approx. 2,300) are used every day on Facebook. The biggest day for emoji sends around the world is December 31, which is New Year's Eve.

Since their creation in 1999, emojis have found their way into mainstream use. No longer just a trend for young people, emojis are now regularly used by more than three quarters (77%) of people aged 56 to 64 years old, according to a Greenberg study carried out in 2017.

Emojis have become a quick and easy way to express an emotion while also transcending the language barrier.