*By Alisha Haridasani*
Apparently the texting world was very contemplative this year.
According to an online survey, the ‘Thinking Face’ emoji best describes 2018ーmaking it the winner of the Best Emoji of the Year in Emojipedia’s annual awards honoring World Emoji Day.
The other honoree was the ‘Exploding Head,' which won for Best New Emoji.
“These are put out to a popular vote, we put it out to the whole World Emoji Day network,” said Jeremy Burge, Chief Emoji Officer at Emojipedia. “This is the will of the people."
Voting was open for two weeks and closed on Tuesday.
Apple also marked World Emoji Day by revealing that dozens of new emojis will be added to iOS 12 later this year.
Redheads, bald people, and people with graying hair are among Apple’s newcomersーpart of the company’s latest attempts to increase diversity and inclusion among its slate of emojis, said Burge.
A peacock, a caped superhero, a cupcake, and the surprisingly popular mango were also added to iOS 12.
“There are so many mango fans out there,” explained Burge. “Mango’s popular, trust me.”
Apple integrated emojis onto its platform in 2012, catalyzing significant growth in usage, said Burge. In the years since, emojis have rapidly become universal symbols for laughter, love, anger...and whatever the folded hands mean.
There are currently almost 3,000 emojis approved by encoding organization Unicode, and most of them ー around 2,300 ー are used daily. According to data released by Facebook last week, over 900 million emoji-only messages are sent over the Messenger app every day. Emojis even shape our email habits: analytics company Leanplum reports emails with emojis are opened 66 percent more often than emails without the symbols.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/winners-of-2018-emoji-awards-revealed)
In this edition of Shannon's Summer Staycation, Cheddar's Own Shannon LaNier recreates the glamping experience in his own backyard.
Aileen Del Cid, head of marketing at Samsung TV Plus, sat down with Cheddar News reporter Michelle Castillo to discuss the platform's plans to stand out from the streaming competition with a new channel featuring Conan O'Brien.
Valeria Caceres-Gil, senior manager of admissions and matchmaking at the ASPCA Adoption Center, gives some tips on how to prepare your pet for a road trip.
Jordan Schlansky, associate producer of 'Conan,' sat down and spoke with Cheddar News about Conan O'Brien's launch on Samsung TV Plus, touched on his favorite interviews with Conan and also teased the upcoming Max series, 'Conan Must Go.'
Did you know that Actor Tom Hanks is an avid collector of antique typewriters? He's not alone! Take a look at how Hanks and one New Jersey man formed an unlikely bond over a nearly 100-year-old antique typewriter.
A new, furry, and four-legged member has just joined the Suffolk County Police Department on Long Island. Meet "Luna." Luna is a therapy dog in training with the department and was named in honor of Fallen FDNY Firefighter William "Billy" Moon who lost his life last year. "Luna" means "moon" in Latin. We caught up with that hero's family to chat about what Luna means to them.
This Memorial Day weekend, settle down with plenty of good ol' American reality TV drama, a new season of an old 'What to Stream' favorite, and a quick, deep look at how much we mess up other people's names.
From Queen Bey's tribute to the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll to the banning of a historic poem, here are your top entertainment headlines.
A service dog named Justin got a diploma along with his owner, Grace Mariana, during a graduation ceremony at Seton Hall University on Monday.
All week long, Cheddar's own Shannon Lanier is giving you ideas on how to have fun without going too far from home. In this segment, he's creating a water park in his backyard and speaking with Jackie Cucco, senior editor at The Toy Insider, about some of the best products out there to make this a reality.
