Consider this: You are tasked with gauging the mood of a writer simply by reading his/her line. It could get pretty tough unless you are patient enough to read an entire paragraph or even a page. But find a way to track the ‘Emojis’ sprinkled in a social media post, and hear yourself shout out in glee!
Now, this is the power of ‘Emojis.’ Twitter India used its algorithmic muscle to dive deep into an ocean of tweets and came out with a striking finding: A whopping 93 per cent out of 6,95,000 conversations indicated a positive/neutral sentiment. Emojis, again, were Twitter’s tool.
The emojis are now so integral to every social media post that there is even a #WorldEmojiDay. Yes, that day came and went on Saturday, but Twitter India was ready with the topmost used emojis in 2021 between January 1 and June 30: Tears of joy, praying, crying, thumbs up, ROFL and heart eyes. Smile and fire emojis were not far behind.
Digging deeper into tweets, retweets and replies, Twitter had concluded early enough that emojis were an indispensable part of everyday conversation. "They convey humour, joy, surprise, excitement, and sometimes, even a mixture of all," noted a Twitter India spokesperson.
Taking the cue from a multitude of conversations on Twitter, the micro-blogging social media platform was convinced that emojis mirror how people feel and what they think about.
The pandemic might have kept people indoors, but people are still passionate about their sport. So how did they use Twitter to express that passion? "From tweeting about their fitness routines at home to their favourite sports games, when people run out of words (or are short of breath to be using any), they tweet with emojis linked to flexed biceps, runners, cricket, cartwheel and surfers."
Interest-based conversations have been on the rise on Twitter. "Especially over the past year, people have found new passions and rediscovered forgotten hobbies. And, of course, they’ve taken to Twitter to talk about it through these emojis linked to camera/photography, dancing, headphones/music, books/reading and colour palette/art."
As for food and drinks, amateur bakers and pro-chefs found Twitter an open bar, sprinkling their conversations with emojis related to birthday cakes and beer mugs, chocolate bars, French fries and lollipops.