Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) users can now use emoji, which are small cartoon-like characters that are compatible with the micro blogging site now. The emoji characters are displayed on the main Twitter.com website.
Emojis to help Twitter in expanding user base
Emojis are the latest addition by Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) to make the platform more user friendly and expand the user base.
Earlier, the tweeted emoji images from other mobile apps like Android and iOS, appeared as hollow boxes on the web, but now it’s all real characters. After the update, which is already available in India, users can view the characters in the web interface. However, compatibility of the characters with embedded tweets is still pending, but it is believed to be fixed later. Also, there appears to some technical glitch on the Tweetdeck support for emojis as some users are not able to view it.
Apple also plans to make emoji more diverse
A few weeks back, technology giant Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also revealed plans to offer more diversity in emoji images. However, there are no specifics by the company on the date and time of emoji upgrade. Katie Cotton, Apple’s vice president of worldwide corporate communications, said “there needs to be more diversity in the emoji character set, and we have been working closely with the Unicode Consortium in an effort to update the standard.”
The iPhone maker enhanced emojis in iOS 6 taking in few more characters, which can be used by all users. Prior to this upgrade users had to install an extra app to use emoji. However, the characters were not modified with the iOS 7, which suggests that iOS8 may come with some changes in these icons. Apple would most probably launch the newly added icons in the Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) in June.
At present, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has various smiley faces, foods, plants and symbols in the form of emojis. Some users are not happy with the lack of diversity in the ethnicity among emojis. There are emojis representing Chinese, Indians and Russians, but emojis for all ethnicities are not available to date. These cartoon characters were first developed in Japan and then integrated with Unicode, which helped them to spread on various other platforms.
