Meta reports that red heart emojis, among others, are popular among Cambodians on Facebook. SUPPLIED
Cambodians between the ages of 18 and 65 tend to use the classic red love heart emoji the most on social media, according to a new report by Meta, which was released on the occasion of World Emoji Day, marked on July 17. ‘
The report used data from Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram to produce its findings.
The red heart emoji is the most popular and the second most used is a face with tears of joy.
“Facebook users in Cambodia between the ages of 45 and 65 prefer to use hands performing a sampeh, or thank you, rather than tears of joy,” it added.
The soccer ball is the most selected sporting emoji on Facebook, following by yoga meditation and then a boxing glove.
On Instagram, the soccer ball and the yoga meditation emojis are ranked 1 and 2 respectively, with a person swimming placing third.
“Interestingly, there appears to be little difference in emoji popularity between males and females – with both sexes choosing the red heart as their favorite,” said the report.
Among the newest emojis to be released by Meta for Facebook, the face holding back tears, the heart hand and the peeking face appear to be the biggest hits.
According to an announcement by Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, reactions on WhatsApp will be expanded to include a full emoji keyboard and skin tone selector.
“People will now be able to use any emoji to react to a message, making conversations a lot more fun,” he said.
In addition, WhatsApp engineers have teamed up with emoji experts, Emojipedia, to explain some of the most hotly debated and newest emojis you can expect to see popping up in your group chats, to save you having to ask what they mean.
One example is the blue cap emoji. The phrases ‘cap’ or ‘capping’, and the accompanying emoji, are sometimes used when someone is lying or being untruthful. If someone reacts to a message with this, it likely means they do not believe what they are being told.
He added that the melting face is a new and very popular emoji that’s often used to express sarcasm or embarrassment. It can be used when you’re literally melting from the heat this summer (like the hot face) or to show shame or even silliness – like the upside down face.
The taking notes emoji is often used to show you are listening closely to someone’s message or “taking notes” on someone’s advice.
According to Meta, ‘human history has shown that images are worth more than words. The rise of visual-based communications has led to a new vocabulary of emojis, GIFs and camera-based messaging, which is making us more expressive than ever before’.
