July 17th marks World Emoji Day! What better way to celebrate than by getting educated on the history of Emojis! The first ever emoji can be dated back to 1998 and was invented in Japan by a man named Shigetaka Kurita (via Wired). Kurita created the first 180 emojis based on the expressions that he observed people making. He also took inspiration from weather forecasts that used symbols, Chinese Characters and street signs. Emojis immediately became a widespread success in Japan and shortly after, a worldwide phenomenon after Apple included them in iPhones. Other brands like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter then started creating their own versions of emojis (it’s hard to keep up – there’s so many!). Emojis are for everyone – more than 90% of the world’s online population uses them! It is a digital language that has been picked up worldwide and will continue to evolve – maybe one day I’ll be able to write a full blog post using just emojis?!

What is your go-to Emoji? Comment below!