First created by Shigetaka Kurita in 1999, the emoji has become a huge part of everyday communication. Whether you love them or hate them, flying dollar bills, applauding hands and rolling eyes are here to stay.
World Emoji Day is celebrated today (17 July).
Almost two decades later, more than 2 600 unique emojis are available to express what users feel.
HMD, the home of Nokia phones, shares some emoji facts:
* The most popular emoji used is “Person Shrugging”.
* The Nokia 3310 was chosen as one of the first three “national” emoji’s for Finland – it represents unbreakable.
* South Africa’s favourite emoji is the “Kiss and wink”.
* French is the only language where a “smiley” does not top the list for its use.
* On average, more than 60-billion emojis are sent on Facebook every day.
* For the first time ever, the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year was a pictograph, the “Face with Tears of Joy”.
* According to Emojipedia, some of the most requested emojis include afro, a bagel and hands making a heart.
* To include all races, a diversity pack was released in 2017.
* It has become so trendy that the Museum of Modern Art displays the original emoji collection on canvas.
* In 2009, Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick was completely translated into emojis.