Mashable: Snapchat’s Bitmoji update upsets users. “Snapchat users are once again frustrated with an update to the social media platform. This time it involves the once delightful, now disquieting Bitmoji. Last week, Snapchat’s cartoon avatars underwent a makeover that startled users, as part of the company’s effort to bring Bitmoji further into 3D.”
Ars Technica: Gmail unleashes “email emoji reactions” onto an unsuspecting world. “Finally, the feature everyone has been asking for: Gmail 👏 emoji 👏 reactions 👏. You can now reply to an email just like it’s an instant messaging chat, tacking on a ‘crying laughing’ emoji to an email instead of replying. Google has a whole support article detailing the new feature, which allows you to ‘express yourself and quickly respond to emails with emojis.'” Pretty sure I’m too old for this.
The Verge: Google’s emoji mashup maker is now available in Search. “You can now create your own emoji combinations directly in Google Search. The company has launched its Emoji Kitchen feature on the web (via 9to5Google), which lets you mash up existing emoji to create different combinations, like an angry pumpkin or a panda wearing a cowboy hat.”
PsyPost: A new mouse maze emoji to increase scientific representation on social media?. “A brief focal point article published in Lancet Neurology questions whether implementing a mouse maze emoji could prove useful in representing the advances made in neuroscientific research. Emojis are small digital icons that are used in digital communication, often conveying emotion or context that may be missing in conversations over text.”
Digital Inspiration: Emojis in Google Sheets. “Learn how to use emojis in Google Sheets and the challenges they pose during conversion of Google Spreadsheets to PDF files.”
Boing Boing: This year’s new emojis revealed. “Among the new emojis coming for the 2023-2024 season of internet-based communications: a broken link, a lime and a plain brown mushroom. The depictions above are mockups by Emojipedia; they’ll actually look different depending on platform or application.”
Boing Boing: Emoji ruled legally binding in Canada. “Giving a digital thumbs up to a request is a binding legal agreement, rules a Canadian court. When asked to confirm a contract for flax, a flax seller responded with a ‘thumbs up’ emoji. The buyer relied on this thumbs up, and a lawsuit arose when the flax did not arrive.”
UC Riverside: Using emoji to measure health. “Most of us now use emoji to convey feelings or thoughts, a practice that has become ubiquitous along with the use of smartphones. Could such emoji have use in medical communication? Yes, according to three researchers, including Kendrick A. Davis of the School of Medicine at the University of California, Riverside, who argue in an invited commentary that the use of emoji in health care communication presents many advantages, including their universal appeal and accessibility to diverse populations.”
MakeUseOf: 5 Online Tools and Websites to Make Your Own Emojis . “Have you ever wished a specific emoji existed but couldn’t find it? Well, now you can explore making your own. Fortunately, you don’t need any advanced software, or technical and artistic skills to make emojis, as there are online tools that allow you to do that. Here are five websites to use to make your own emojis.”
Deadline: Twitter Responds To All Email Inquiries From The Press With A Poop Emoji, 51-Year-Old Owner Elon Musk Reports. “All inquiries from members of the press directed to Twitter’s official press email now receive the same automatic reply: a poop emoji. Elon Musk, who bought the social media company for $44 billion last year, relayed the update on his own Twitter feed over the weekend.” This is such a stupid waste of pixels I’m ashamed to be typing it. But I want evidence somewhere so that 40 years down the road nobody dismisses this story as apocryphal.
Newswise: Scientists find that people use emojis to hide, as well as show, their feelings. “As more social interaction goes online, scientists are investigating how emojis are used to reflect our emotions in different contexts. Are there display rules that apply to emojis, and how do those affect people’s wellbeing?”
Emojipedia: First Look: New Emojis in iOS 16.4. “New emoji designs have arrived on iOS as part of the first iOS 16.4 beta, including the shaking face, two pushing hands, and the much-requested plain pink heart emoji.”
Engadget: Google Meet adds emoji as a ‘non-disruptive’ way to react in calls. “Google is making Meet more social with a new feature called in-meeting reactions. The idea is that users can send one of nine emoji reactions, including 💖👍 and 😂, which will appear on the recipient’s window and be visible to all in the meeting.”
Rolling Stone: We Couldn’t Have Made It Through This Year Without the Saluting Emoji. “…in the end, no emoji was better suited for the ups and downs 2022 than the saluting face. Everyone from an ex-pro Call of Duty gamer to a Berkeley City Council member to musician Zephani Jong found themselves obsessed with the stalwart little expression. More than one fan has claimed that the emoji changed their lives, helping them persevere through trial and tribulation.” Note to historians coming across this crusty old blog hundreds of years from now: that last sentence may not make sense to you, but it absolutely does to me, and if you manage to reassemble my personality from all the italicized comments I’ve left in ResearchBuzz over the last 25 years, I’ll be happy to explain.
How-To Geek: Yes, Emoji Have Multiple Meanings Too. “In case you haven’t heard, Gen Z has apparently ‘canceled’ a handful of emoji, including the thumbs-up. That’s absolutely not true, but it’s brought something interesting to light. Do people not realize emojis have multiple meanings, just like words do?”
