#WorldEmojiDay: A look at how India expresses itself on Twitter

On Twitter, emojis are indispensable parts of every-day conversation. They convey humour, joy, surprise, excitement, and sometimes, even a mixture of all of the above. Taking a cue from the kinds of conversations happening on Twitter, emojis mirror how people feel and what they’re thinking about.

People’s love for emojis on Twitter in India is evident through the volume of conversations around #WorldEmojiDay in 2020, where 695K conversations from 146K unique authors in India alone were recorded, with a 93% positive/neutral sentiment. In 2021, the most-used emojis were reflective of everything the nation has been through. Here are the top most used emojis on Twitter in India between January 01 – June 30, 2021:

Most used emojis in 2021
(January 01 – June 30, 2021)
???? (Tears of joy emoji)
???? (Praying emoji)
???? (Crying emoji)
???? (Thumbs up emoji)
???? (ROFL emoji)
???? (Heart eyes emoji)
???? (Pleading face emoji)
???? (Smile emoji)
???? (Fire emoji)
???? (Grinning face with smiling eyes emoji)

Along with expressing their emotions, people also use emojis in conversations about their interests, hobbies and how they’re spending their time. Based on analysis of all the Tweets on the service this year, here are the most popular emojis across the following six categories:

● Sports & Fitness: The pandemic may have kept people indoors, but people are still passionate about their sport! From Tweeting about their fitness routines at home, to their favourite sports games, when people run out of words (or are short of breath to be using any), they Tweet with the following emojis
1. ???? (Flexed biceps)
2. ???? (Runner)
3. ????(Cricket)
4. ???? (Cartwheel)
5. ????(Surfer)

● Hobbies & Activities: Interest-based conversations have been on the rise on Twitter. Especially over the past year, people have found new passions and rediscovered forgotten hobbies, and of course they’ve taken to Twitter to talk about it through these emojis
1. ???? (Camera/photography)
2. ????(Dancing)
3. ???? (Headphones/music)
4. ???? (Books/reading)
5. ???? (Colour palette/art)

● Food & Drink: From amateur bakers and pro-chefs, or as an accompaniment to your favourite show, Twitter’s an open bar when it comes to conversations around food & drink. A dinner date, a house-party, or late-night cravings, all things food find their way to Twitter with these emojis
1. ???? (Birthday cake)
2. ???? (Beer mugs)
3. ???? (Chocolate bar)
4. ???? (French fries)
5. ????(Lollipop)

● Appreciation: Victories, achievements, acts of kindness are all appreciated through Tweets on Twitter. Over the past year, people have come to the service to take joy in everyday acts of kindness, and express gratitude to doctors, nurses and all those fighting on the frontlines of the pandemic. Here are the most popular emojis expressing appreciation in Tweets
1. ???? (100 points)
2. ???? (Bouquet)
3. ???? (Clapping Hands/ Applause)
4. ???? (G.O.A.T – Greatest of All Time)
5. ????(Medal)

● Nature: From #SunriseTwitter to #LeafTwitter, there’s a conversation for all things nature, and an emoji for every season. These are the emojis most popularly used by those Tweeting about the outdoors and the environment
1. ???? (Rose)
2. ???? (Sunrise)
3. ???? (Sun with Face)
4. ???? (Glowing Star)
5. ???? (Cherry Blossom)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter has been the go-to place for people to stay informed. This year, we saw the service turn into a real-time helpline. As India navigated this crisis together on Twitter, these were the most used emojis related to the pandemic
1. ???? (Prayer)
2. ???? (Wear a mask)
3. ???? (SOS)
4. ???? (Stay home)
5. ???? (Hospital)

Twitter had also introduced a custom emoji to support COVID-19 conversations on the service – depicting the Indian flag in a caring cup of hands. The emoji can be activated with the hashtags #Covid19IndiaHelp, #COVIDIndiaSOS, #कोविड१९भारतसेवा, and more.

Given the popularity of emojis on the service, Twitter frequently introduces custom emojis to encourage conversations around festivals, observance days and key moments. This year too, Twitter introduced several emojis, in addition to the one for #Covid19IndiaHelp:
● In January this year, south Indian superstar Vijay’s movie, Master, got its own custom emoji, which could be activated with the hashtags – #MasterFilm, #MasterPongal, #மாஸ்டர், #మాస్టర్, #VijayTheMaster.
● Twitter also introduced an emoji for the Indian Republic Day, depicting the Indian Air Force marking the sky with Indian tricolours.
● To support conversations around #AssemblyElections2021, Twitter launched another emoji in March this year, that could be activated with hashtags in several Indian languages such as #विधानसभाचुनाव2021 (Hindi), #தமிழ்நாடுதேர்தல்2021 (Tamil), #বাংলারভোট2021 (Bengali), #കേരളാതെരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ്2021ൽ (Malayalam), #অসমনিৰ্বাচন২০২১ (Assamese).
● Sports, especially cricket, have a massive following on the service. Twitter’s emojis for the IPL teams this year had fans cheering for their favourite teams with customised jersey emojis.