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Anyone who uses their phone to digitally pay their friends back knows the emoji shorthand: A pizza to pay for dinner. A coffee cup to cover a latte. Or a martini for those post-work cocktails. Turns out those payment messages aren’t just between friends. They’re actually being tracked to figure out dining trends, consumer behavior.
This month, the popular digital wallet service, CashApp, compiled its first-ever “That’s Money” peer-to-peer trend report for 2024, measuring each of the emojis and expressions we use when we pay each other. The survey is divided by generations, which helps show how references and concerns differ between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X , and Boomers. CashApp has been tracking the info internally since at least 2019, covering everything from mentions of Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter to the WNBA and pickleball with a big section of the report devoted to food and drink.
According to Cash App, we’re all giving in to everyday indulgences. The phrase “sweet little treat” rose by 500% in the past year, while similar phrases like “sweet treat” and “little treat” jumped 349% and 170%. “Espresso martini” showed an 89% rise in mentions, “Food” outranked all other payment descriptions at No. 1, followed by “gas,” “love,” “thanks,” and “happy.”