A team of researchers analyzed which are Twitter’s most suggestive emojis for sexting used by both Americans and Europeans. Emoticons are undeniably taking over conversations everywhere. Messaging across every platform that allows them is now full of those yellow faces and symbols.
However, some have chosen to get creative with their meaning and shift the message behind the tiny clipart to indicate a more risqué behavior. They’re now used to flirt or even taking the place of sexting. So, officially, it seems like emojis have slipped into the international language of love.
The team of researchers observed the number of flirtatious messages across Twitter to determine which one is the most used to initiate and start all that sexy talk. Or, at least, begin a string of emojis that, while are pretty straightforward, do take the art out of it by making things much easier. It could be said that some innocent symbols have entirely changed their meaning.
Heart-eyes Emoji initiates it
While they differ in a few areas, users from the United States and Europe seem to agree on which is the best emoji to start the sexy dialogue with. It’s the smiling face with the heart-eyes and wide grin. Between April and July 2015, it was used 2 million times by Americans and just around 387,000 by Europeans for flirting. It seems those from the U.S. are leaning more toward the use of emojis for sexting.
In the U.S., the second most suggestive emoticon was deemed as the kissy face with over almost 760,000 uses. Third place is held by the cat with heart-eyes, which should not be further explained why. The cruder suggestive emoticons with phallic implications, such as the banana or the eggplant, however, are ranked low. And yet, they’re more popular in the U.S. than Europe. Keeping it classy.
Women prefer emojis more than men
There is also a gender divide between the preferred symbols while sexting. In the U.S. women seem to dominate across the board, including the smiling heart-eyes with 67% of uses. All except one, the eggplant, which is mostly used by men with 58% of uses. It does seem like women prefer the banana for that sort of suggestion, with 62%. It’s free to anyone’s interpretation as to why.
However, just one emoji isolated is rarely enough to capture the entire message. So, the most popular combination in both the U.S. and Europe is the combination of three mouths with tongues sticking out. Two eggplants in a row hold the second spot for the U.S., while Europeans prefer the pointing-right finger with the OK gesture more.
It’s an entirely different language, and there are numerous others that have sexy implications beyond their original use. This includes cat faces, peaches, or splashes of… water. Emojis can, apparently, be sexy.
Image source: twitter.com
