How Emojis Became a Shared Digital Language

Emojis are small pictures that people use in messages. A smiling face, a heart or a thumbs-up can add feeling to a sentence. These emojis can help people show happiness, surprise or a joke.

The first famous set of emoji was made in Japan in 1999. It had 176 simple pictures for mobile phones. Later, phone and computer companies started using the same emoji codes.

Today, an emoji can travel with a message from one device to another. But people do not always understand an emoji in the same way. Its meaning can change with the person, place and situation.