World Emoji Day

In this age of the internet, we have prioritised conversions virtually. However, through online communication, we cannot fully express our emotions. But we have found a solution for that as well. Emojis have become a medium for us to express our feelings and emotions. We celebrate World Emoji Day every year on 17 July. The day has become quite popular among people and the communication and technology industry often sees this day as an opportunity to announce new products for their consumers. 

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History of World Emoji Day 

Originally, on 17 July 2002, Apple premiered its iCal calendar application that featured as an easter egg on the Apple Colour Emoji version of the Calendar Emoji.

Jeremy Burge was the one who had the idea of the invention of World Emoji Day. As per CNBC, the founder of Emojipedia created it in 2014. According to the reports of the New York Times, the observance of the day on 17 July was based on the way the Calender Emoji is shown on iPhones. On the occasion of the first World Emoji Day, Burge said in an interview that “there were no formal plans put in place other than choosing the date.” As per the suggestion of the Washington Post in 2018, readers should use only emojis to converse on this day. 

Google also changed the appearance of Unicode characters U+1F4C5 📅 CALENDAR to display 17 July on Gmail, Hangouts, Android and ChromeOS products. As of 2020, most of the platforms switched to 17 July on Calender emoji to avoid confusion except for Microsoft. 

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Significance 

Let us take a look at why emojis are important to us:

• No matter where you belong, feeling and emotions remain the same. Emojis enable us to communicate with each other regardless of our native languages. Emojis have become a universal language. Like the ancient times, use symbols and visuals to communicate. Even if we do not understand the word of each other, we can definitely understand what the person is trying to convey with emojis. 
• Since we are shifting toward a virtual mode of conversation, it becomes difficult to express our emotions. The thought behind creating emojis was to symbolize emotions with pictures. Now we have a wide range of emojis to express emotions, place, time, nationality, object, food and whatnot. This enables us to understand each other better without any misunderstandings. 
• There are times when we cannot express ourselves with words or get lost in translation. In this age of the Internet, Emojis offer us a way to express our words better and faster. With the react feature on social media platforms, we can express what we feel regarding something or a message. 

Also Read: Communication Skills for Professionals 

Popular Announcements on World Emoji Day 

As mentioned above, the day holds great importance in the technology and communication industry. They have often taken the day as a chance to make new announcements in their products.

• Since 2017, Apple has observed every World Emoji Day as an opportunity to announce the expansion of the Emojis range on IOS
• In 2015, on 17 July, Pepsi launched PepsiMoji which included custom Pepsi cans and bottles based on the day and an emoji keyboard as well. Initially, it was released in Canada and later expanded to 100 markets. 
• Sony Pictures Animation as well in 2016, announced T.J Miller as the first cast member of the Emoji movie
• Google released a new series of emojis as well. This was inclusive of Women from diverse backgrounds.
• In 2019, the award for Most Popular New Emoji was announced as the ‘Smiling Face with Hearts” and in 2020 it was the ‘White Heart’.

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How is it Celebrated?

There are many ways in which one can celebrate this day. Given below are some activities to celebrate the day:

• Challenge your friends and family members to have an Emoji-only conversation. This will help you check your emoji knowledge. In this way, you can use emojis to understand each other. Sound fun, right?
• Nowadays, there is a new feature that enables you to create your own emoji using a photograph. Using this feature you can make your own emoji and share it with others as well. 
• World Emoji Day drawings are another way of celebrating it. You can paint your favourite emoji on t-shirts, caps or your face. You can also organize an Emoji-theme party and dress up as your favourite emoji. 

Check Out: Word Emoji Day Quiz

FAQs

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