Emojipedia
Emojipedia is an emoji reference website[1] which documents the meaning and common usage of emoji characters[2] in the Unicode Standard. Emojipedia also publishes articles and provides tools for tracking new emoji characters, design changes and usage trends.[3]
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Available in | English |
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Editor | Jeremy Burge |
URL | emojipedia |
Launched | 2013 |
Emojipedia is a voting member of The Unicode Consortium[4] and has been called “the world's number one resource on emoji”.[5]
History
Jeremy Burge[6] created Emojipedia in 2013,[7] and told the Hackney Gazette “the idea came about when Apple added emojis to iOS 6, but failed to mention which ones were new”.[8]
Emojipedia rose to prominence with the release of Unicode 7 in 2014, when The Register reported the “online encyclopedia of emojis has been chucked offline after vast numbers of people visited the site”[9] in relation to the downtime experienced by the site at the time.
In 2015, Emojipedia entered its first partnership with Quartz to release an app that allowed users access previously-hidden country flag emojis on iOS.[10]
Emojipedia told Business Insider in early-2016 that it served “over 140 million page views” per year, and was profitable.[11] In mid-2016, Emojipedia “urged Apple to rethink its plan to convert the handgun emoji symbol into a water pistol icon” citing cross-platform confusion.[12]
In 2017 The Library of Congress launched the Web Cultures Web Archive[13] which featured a history of memes, gifs, and emojis from references including Emojipedia, Boing Boing and GIPHY.[14]
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the site served 23 million page views in October 2017.[15] Total page views for 2013–2019 were said to have reached one billion by February 2019.[16] The New Yorker reported Emojipedia served 50 million page views in April 2020.[17]
News and Analysis
In 2016 an Emojipedia analysis[18] showed that the peach emoji[19] is most commonly used to represent buttocks.[20]
In 2017, after Google CEO Sundar Pichai pledged to “drop everything” to update Android's burger emoji,[21] Emojipedia revealed[22] the cheese layering issue had been resolved.[23][24][25]
In 2018 Emojipedia revealed[26] that Apple planned to “fix” its bagel emoji[27] design[28] by adding cream cheese,[29] following user complaints.[30]
A 2020 study by Emojipedia[31] found that U+1F637 😷 FACE WITH MEDICAL MASK[32] and U+1F9A0 🦠 MICROBE[33] were most used to represent COVID-19.[34][35] Also in 2020, Emojipedia revealed[36] that Apple's forthcoming iOS update would change the mask-wearing emoji[37] to display a smiling face.[38][39][40]
World Emoji Day
World Emoji Day is a holiday created by Emojipedia[41] in 2014[42] which is held on 17 July each year.[43] According to the New York Times, 17 July was chosen due to the design of the calendar emoji (on iOS) showing this date.[44][45]
Emojipedia used the second annual World Emoji Day to release EmojiVote as “an experiment in Emoji democracy”.[46] In 2017–2020, Apple used this event to preview new emojis for iOS.[47][48][49] Emojipedia reveals the winners of the World Emoji Awards each year, with past announcements held live at the New York Stock Exchange[50] and National Museum of Cinema.[51]
Adopt an Emoji
Emojipedia launched Adopt an Emoji in September 2015 as “an attempt to make the site free of display ads” according to Wired.[52] This preceded a similar program by the Unicode Consortium in December 2015.[53]
The Emojipedia “Adopt an Emoji” program was shut down in November 2016, citing confusion for users and advertisers due to the similarity with Unicode's fundraising effort.[54]
Cultural impact
Emojipedia's images for future emoji designs have been used as the source of jokes in opening monologues on late night television shows such as The Daily Show,[55] Jimmy Kimmel Live[56] and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[57]
In 2018, Portland Maine's Press Herald reported that Senator Angus King had endorsed a new lobster emoji[58] but Emojipedia's design was called out as “anatomically incorrect” due to an incorrect number of legs.[59] The number of legs on Emojipedia's lobster design was subsequently fixed in a future release. Slate reported this as “a victory for scientists and lobster fans everywhere”.[60]
Skater Tony Hawk criticized Emojipedia's skateboard design as being "'mid-'80s ... beginner-level' board 'definitely not representative' of the modern sport” and subsequently worked with the company to produce an updated design.[61]
On BBC Radio 4, Stephen Fry described Emojipedia as “a kind of Académie française for your iPhone” when assessing its impact on the English language.[62]
Legal precedent
In 2018, Emojipedia was presented in the Federal Court of Australia as “a reputable website in telling us how to interpret these faces” by a lawyer for Geoffrey Rush during a defamation case against Nationwide News. This was in the context of interpreting an emoji sent by Rush to a fellow actor, which Rush described as “the looniest emoji I could find”.[63] Rush said he would have used an emoji of Groucho Marx or The Muppets' Fozzie Bear if they had been available.[64] Reports indicate Rush's lawyer “attempted to hand up to Justice Michael Wigney a printout of the emoji's meaning from Emojipedia” but a barrister for Nationwide News objected, stating it “doesn't matter what Emojipedia says the emoji is”. Justice Wigney agreed that an emoji definition “is in the eye of the beholder”: inferring the context within the message was more important than the Emojipedia definition.[65]
In the 2020 case of Burrows v Houda, the District Court of New South Wales considered the use of emoji U+1F910 🤐 ZIPPER-MOUTH FACE[66] and whether it could constitute defamation.[67] Judge Gibson referred to Emojipedia noting its definition of the zipper-mouth emoji to imply “a secret” or “stop talking”, “in circumstances where a person impliedly knows the answer but is forbidden or reluctant to answer”.[68][69]
References
- Yen, Yap (29 June 2015). "The Definitive Guide To All Things Emoji". Design Taxi. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- Davis, Mark (3 February 2015). "More Unicode Emoji Glyph changes" (PDF). Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
- Seward, Zachary (4 May 2015). "Microsoft is the only tech company daring enough to support the middle finger emoji". Quartz. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
- "Unicode Members". www.unicode.org. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- Shackleton, Emily (15 January 2016). "8 commonly confused emoji and what they really mean". Metro. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
- Griffin, Andrew (17 July 2016). "Meet the man whose life work is cataloguing emoji". The Independent. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
- Van Luling, Todd (18 November 2014). "Why We Never Got Those 250 New Emoji We Were Promised". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
- Ibitoye, Victoria (31 March 2016). "8 commonly confused emoji and what they really mean". Hackney Gazette.
- Hamill, Jasper (17 June 2014). "Unicode ideogram list-site Emojipedia goes titsup". The Register. London. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- Seward, Zach (10 June 2015). "Say hello to Flags, the world's emoji keyboard for iPhones". Quartz. New York.
- Price, Rob (17 January 2016). "Interview with Jeremy Burge, founder of Emojipedia". Business Insider. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
- Baraniuk, Chris (5 August 2016). "Apple urged to rethink gun emoji change". BBC. London.
- "About this Collection – Web Cultures Web Archive". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- "The Library of Congress Archives Web Culture Online". CraveOnline. 16 August 2017. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- Olding, Rachel (2 December 2017). "How Jeremy Burge turned his curiosity with emojis into a six-figure salary". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- Swan, David (19 February 2019). "Emojis register serious business". The Australian. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- Mirani, Leo. "The Samuel Johnson of Emoji". The New Yorker. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Azhar, Hamdan (16 December 2016). "How We Really Use The Peach". Emojipedia. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- "🍑 Peach Emoji". emojipedia.org. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Kircher, Madison Malone. "Very Official Study Finds Peach Emoji Most Often Paired With Eggplant". Intelligencer. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Calfas, Jennifer. "Google CEO Promises to 'Drop Everything' to Fix its Cheeseburger Emoji". Time. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Burge, Jeremy (28 November 2017). "Google Fixes Burger Emoji". Emojipedia. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Gallucci, Nicole. "Google finally fixed its horrendous excuse for a burger emoji". Mashable. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- "Google finally fixes the burger emoji". Engadget. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Perez, Sarah. "Google Fixed The Burger Emoji in Android 8.1". TechCrunch. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Burge, Jeremy (15 October 2018). "Apple Fixes Bagel Emoji". Emojipedia. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- "🥯 Bagel Emoji". emojipedia.org. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Statt, Nick (15 October 2018). "Apple fixes its new bagel emoji with cream cheese and a doughier consistency". The Verge. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- "Apple Is Fixing its Bone-Dry Bagel Emoji After An Outcry". Time. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- "Apple has fixed its incredibly controversial bagel emoji". The Independent. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Broni, Keith (11 March 2020). "Spread of the Coronavirus Emoji". Emojipedia. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- "😷 Face with Medical Mask Emoji". emojipedia.org. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- "🦠 Microbe Emoji". emojipedia.org. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Pesce, Nicole Lyn. "World Emoji Day: These emoji best sum up life during the pandemic". MarketWatch. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Meisenzahl, Mary. "These are the emoji people are using in their coronavirus tweets". Business Insider. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Burge, Jeremy (2 October 2020). "Mask Wearing Emoji Now Smiles". Emojipedia. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Allen Kim. "Apple's new face mask emoji is now hiding a smile". CNN. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
- Hollister, Sean (3 October 2020). "Apple is hiding a smile behind its new mask emoji". The Verge. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Dupere, Katie (5 October 2020). "Apple Updated the Mask-Wearing Emoji to Include a Smile". Men's Health. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Serrano, Jody. "Apple's New Emoji Wants You to Know That You Don't Have to Be Miserable When Wearing a Face Mask". Gizmodo. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Schiano di Pepe, Federico. "The Evolution of Emojis: A New Creative Way to Engage With Your Customers". Huffington Post. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
- O'Neill Deighan, Emma (17 July 2015). "It's World Emoji Day, how will you celebrate?". Belfast Live. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
- Schupak, Amanda (17 July 2015). "Could you use these new emoji in a sentence?". CBS News. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
- Varn, Kathryn (17 July 2015). "Letting Our Emojis Get in the Way". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- "📅 Calendar Emoji". emojipedia.org. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- Varn, Kathryn (17 July 2015). "Letting Our Emojis Get in the Way". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- Hern, Alex (17 July 2017). "Apple marks World Emoji Day with beards, headscarves and breastfeeding". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- "Apple celebrates World Emoji Day". Apple Newsroom. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- Burge, Jeremy (16 July 2020). "First Look: New Emojis Coming to iOS in 2020". Emojipedia. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Desk, BWW News. "Winners of World Emoji Awards to be Announced on World Emoji Day". Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- "Jeremy Burge annuncia il nuovo emoji lanciato nel 2018 che è risultato essere il più popolare dell'anno". Twitter. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Gottsegen, Gordon (4 September 2015). "Adopting Emoji Is Like Adopting Internet Highways". Wired.
- McHugh, Molly (16 December 2015). "Why Unicode Is Putting Its Emoji Up For Adoption". Wired.
- Burge, Jeremy (14 November 2016). "Adopt Your Emoji at Unicode". Emojipedia.
- "Making Room for New Emojis – The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Video Clip) | Comedy Central". Comedy Central. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- Jimmy Kimmel Live (22 June 2016), Jimmy Kimmel Explains the New Emojis, retrieved 12 March 2018
- "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- "Lobster". Emojipedia.
- "Lobster emoji design stumbles, perhaps for want of 2 more legs". Press Herald. 8 February 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- Barasch, Alex. "The New Lobster and DNA Emojis Are Now Scientifically Accurate. Well Done, Nerds!". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- "Bungled Lobster, Skateboard, DNA Emoji Fixed Ahead of Release". Geek.com. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- "Words Fail Me, Series 8, Fry's English Delight – BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- McGowan, Michael (24 October 2018). "Geoffrey Rush doesn't want to act again, his wife tells libel trial". the Guardian. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- Whitbourn, Michaela (17 December 2018). "Geoffrey Rush denies harassing Orange Is The New Black star Yael Stone". The Age. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
- "Geoffrey Rush's Wife Says Her Husband 'Wept' When He Saw 'King Leer' Front Cover". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- "🤐 Zipper-Mouth Face Emoji". emojipedia.org. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
- "Burrows v Houda - NSW Caselaw". www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
- Whitbourn, Michaela (28 August 2020). "Judge considers 'zipper-mouth' emoji in Sydney lawyers' defamation fight". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
- Redlich, Holding. "A picture is worth a thousand words - but what about an emoji? | Lexology". www.lexology.com. Retrieved 5 October 2020.