Photo: Narumon Bowonkitwanchai / Moment / Getty Images
Yesterday, Wednesday, July 17, was World Emoji Day, a completely made-up annual holiday and the only date that has its own emoji, displayed in the 📅 calendar emoji.
Emojis are a vital part of texting and communicating these days and have become a huge part of our daily lives. In fact, nearly a quarter of Americans use emojis multiple times a day. While we as a society have come a long way from the days of using :) and :( to express our emotions, Just like text emoticons, some emojis are starting to fade away in terms of popularity and here's what we know!
Our sources examined a study analyzing the usage and search volume of the top 100 emojis around the world to find which ones have taken a hit in popularity and are likely to go extinct. Everything is not OK for the 👌 emoji, which tops the list as the most unpopular emoji worldwide. The 😳 and 🙌 emojis take the second and third global spots. In America specifically, the 😜 winking face with tongue emoji 😜 is the most unpopular emoji overall.
The 💁 emoji — which apparently symbolizes an information desk person but is often used as a hair flip — is the most endangered emoji in almost every city, with a few exceptions: El Paso, Virginia Beach, Long Beach and Tulsa.
The smirking face 😏 emoji is also seeing a decline in popularity in nearly 38% of countries. The decline of these emojis is likely due to the launch of new emojis from Apple, as users gravitate toward more relatable ones.