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In this day and age of smartphones, users everywhere are able to make the most out of virtual communication and text messaging. With the rise of such technology, we also have access to using emojis.
An emoji, a combination of the Japanese terms e (picture) and moji (character), is a little graphic illustration, such as a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or “smiley,” that is used in electronic messaging and on the Internet to transmit emotional cues.
We discovered the Twitter API returned 9 million samples of geotagged tweets that determined the most popular emoji worldwide and per continent and country. Through this information, we now know the top emojis used in every country for 2022. Read on to learn more.
Top Emojis in Africa
Thirty-seven of the fifty African countries use the shed happy tears emoji 🥲. National flags are tweeted ten times more than any other emoji.
Algeria, Somalia, and Tunisia are among the countries that commonly tweet red hearts ❤️. Algerians enjoy the country’s scenery and national soccer team.
Top Emojisin in Asia and Oceania
Japan has the most geographically relevant emojis. Two examples include oni demons 👹 and Dango sweets 🍡. Japanese iPhones pioneered the emoji keyboard in the 1990s, and as a result, several Japanese symbols were added to Unicode.
According to Unicode, this glittering emoji ✨, a “Japanese original,” is the most popular on Twitter in Japan. Sparkles is a Japanese term that means “shiny newness” in manga and animation. Sparkles are currently being used humorously around sarcastic or insulting remarks.
Top Emojis in Europe
Flags are used in more tweets than any other emoji by 19 of the 51 European countries. During the sample period, Poland was the only country to tweet the Ukrainian flag more than its own, which coincided with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Aside from flags, Europe uses red hearts ❤️ and joyous tears emojis 😂. Despite being the best in the world, the latter may fall to natural selection. Younger generations use the skull 💀 or coffin emoji ⚰️ to say, “I’m dying of laughter.”
Top Emojis in The Middle East and Central Asia
The pushpin emoji 📌 is the focus of countless memes, portraying the tweeter’s journey from good intentions to personal failure. The most popular emoji in Kuwait is the circular pushpin 📍, but it’s used by Kuwaitis to indicate locations rather than as a “deadpan” emote.
Sending a red heart can be considered a “harassment violation” in Saudi Arabia, punishable by a $26,656 fine and a two-year prison sentence. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where the “less provocative” white heart 🤍 is the most popular local emoji.
Top Emojis in North America
To indicate unbridled laughing and self-deprecation, users in North America use the face with tears of joy emoji 😂. On Facebook and Instagram, it is the most commonly used emoji.
North America responds with laughter, with ten countries using tears of joy and five utilizing the more severe rolling-on-the-floor laughing emoji 🤣. Nicaragua, the only country that doesn’t feature tears or a flag as its top emoji, uses the red heart ❤️ most often.
Top Emojis in South America
Guyana and Bolivia tweet the most national flag emojis in South America. Chile and Paraguay laugh at the world’s most popular thing (tears of joy) 😂.
The red heart emoji ❤️ is the most popular in South America and the second most popular globally. The red heart, according to Cosmo’s guide to twenty-plus heart emojis, is basic and should only be used once when addressing a lover.
Conclusion
As we grow fonder of using virtual communication platforms, users find that an emoji represents a specific feeling in different languages. Emojis add tone and nuance to text communication, making them more than just punctuation marks. These tiny icons help people all over the world convey emotion in the best way they can.
Fleksy offers a keyboard SDK with all emojis you require as a solution to help their users communicate clearly with one another globally. Get in touch with us today to discover our products and services! Or simply start building your onscreen keyboard today via the Fleksy developer platform.
