Considering that there's a movie about emojis coming out in the near future, it should hardly be a surprise that something like Emojicon exists. The event is a three-day fan convention devoted to celebrating, learning about and merchandising emojis.
Though emojis were first created as mere adornments for text message conversations, the characters have taken on lives of their own. They are still used to add emphasis to digital conversations, but they also take on their own culturally anchored meaning depending on memes, cultural behavior and so much else. As such, emojis have earned some devoted fans -- enough that an entire conference like Emojicon is worth putting on.
The Emojicon weekend featured speakers from social media companies like Google and Snapchat as well as a representative for the Unicode Consortium.
What's Driving This Trend
- Emoji Culture
- Opportunity to create novel forms of media centered around the cultural significance of emojis.
- Emoji Merchandising
- Potential for businesses to create new product lines centered around popular emojis.
- Emoji Education
- Opportunity for educators to teach students about the linguistic and cultural significance of emojis.
Who This Affects Most
- Social Media
- Social media companies can leverage the cultural significance of emojis to increase user engagement.
- Retail
- Retailers can create new product lines centered around popular emojis to appeal to younger demographics.
- Education
- Educators can integrate emojis into their lesson plans to make learning more fun and engaging for students.
