It seems like emojis have already worked their way into every industry out there. Surely, we’re running out of ways to incorporate emojis into our daily lives?
Nope. We haven’t.
😀 😉 😭 💩 ➡️ 🎲 📺 🎉
Yep, you read that right. Emojis are coming to our TV sets in a new game show called Emogenius. Hunter March, who you may know from the YouTube channel AwesomenessTV, has landed his very first TV gig and will be the host for the brand new series.
The TV show, which will be launching very soon on The Game Network, will see teams of two battle it out to win $10,000 by putting their emoji-solving skills to the test. Although we don’t know much yet, the contestants will most likely have to decode messages written entirely in emoji. (Kind of like Catchphrase or that game that made the rounds a while ago 4 Pictures 1 Word.)
So how did we get here? How did we reach the stage where emojis are forming the basis for a game show?
The Evolution of the Emoji
Remember MSN Messenger emoticons? Remember how it was super cool to have a different emoticon for every single letter of the alphabet so that your message looked like it had been constructed by a glitter-obsessed pre-teen? Back in the 90s and early 00s, we weren’t limited to preset icons either, oh no. Being able to upload and create our own emoticons was truly the best way to express our individuality (apart from your MySpace theme, obviously). This, my friends, is where our obsession with replacing words with pictures began.
From then, our love for emoticons, now known as emojis, only grew stronger. Emojis crept into our smartphone keyboards and eventually made it into every form of virtual communication out there.
Back in 2015, the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year wasn’t even a word; it was an emoji (the happy-crying-face emoji; in fact 😂 ). That shows just how deeply emojis have infiltrated our language over the last few years.
What started off purely as a means of communication has now become an unstoppable phenomenon. There are kids emoji toys from almost every toy shop on the high street. There are poop emoji plush toys, winky emoji fidget spinners, and sunglasses emoji skittle sets.
For the older emoji-fanatics, there are emoji-themed online slots such as the Emoji Planet video slot on tonnes of different online bingo sites, some of which can be played without the need for an initial deposit. This year has even seen the release of a movie about our favourite emojis, which brings emoji fun for the whole family. Basically, whoever you, whatever your age… Emojis. Are. Everywhere.
What’s Next for Emojis?
As a form of communication, emojis probably aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. New emojis are being released all the time. In fact, Apple have recently added racially diverse emojis into the mix, with other platforms following suit. (Although, it seems Facebook haven’t quite got it right just yet.)
When it comes to the other elements of emojis reign of power (such as the merchandise, the games, and the films), who knows? Perhaps they’ll continue to surprise us by popping up here, there and everywhere in our daily lives. Or, they could go the way of Angry Birds and disappear into thin air seemingly overnight.
Are GIFs the new Emojis?
Just like emojis, reaction GIFs seem to be working their way into our online lexicon. Why use a little yellow face to express your feelings when you could use a real-life human reaction?
In case you’re feeling a little behind, a GIF is a graphic format that’s halfway between a video and a still image. Basically, a moving image. And just like emojis, they’re everywhere. You know the saying ‘there’s an app for that’? Well, whatever you’re feeling, whatever it is that you want to say… there’s a GIF for that.
Sites like Giphy are making it super easy to find GIFs from your favourite TV show or YouTube video. And with their integration with platforms such as Twitter, Slack, and even Google Chrome, you can add your favourite reaction GIF directly from your tweet, message, or your email.
So, perhaps this time next year, we’ll be writing an article about a new game show where, instead of decoding the emojis, you’re decoding the GIFs.