Emoji

[Jason Yan]

An emoji is a small icon that can be placed inline with text. The name emoji comes from the Japanese phrase e (絵) and moji (文字), which translates to picture character.
Since 2010, the popularity or emojis have grown rapidly. They are commonly used in text messaging, social media, and in apps like Instagram and Snapchat. They have largely replaced emoticons as the standard way to express an emotion in a message or comment.
While smiley faces are the most commonly used emojis, they can also represent people, places, animals, objects, flags, and symbols. By inserting emojis into a message, you can emphasize a feeling or simply replace words with symbols. For example, instead of writing, I love coffee; it makes me happy, you could simply write:
I ️ ️ ️.
Emojis can be inserted inline with text because each icon corresponds to a Unicode value for a specific character. Inserting an emoji is just like typing a letter or symbol on your keyboard. However, in order for the emoji to be displayed, it must be supported by the operating system (OS). In other words, the OS must recognize the Unicode value and have an emoji that corresponds to it. If no emoji is found, either a blank space or an empty box will be displayed.
Apples iOS was the first major OS to offer system-level support, so Apples database of emojis has historically been larger than those found on Android and Windows devices. Therefore, if you send an emoji recently added to Apples database to a user with an Android device, he may only see an empty box on his device.
NOTE: While the Unicode values for emojis has become standardized across platforms, there is no central database of emoji icons. Therefore, each platform displays different images for each emoji. For example, the Smiling face emoji will look different on Mac, Windows, and Android devices. Additionally, the way to insert emojis varies between operating systems, such as Windows and OS X.
Smileys

[Gregory]

once a [cool thing] for texting, but is now utterly annoying due to the [admiration] of [5-10] year old kids. they all ruined them and are now being turned into a fucking movie.

[PussyCat]

Something that should never be used, it is humanitys [worst idea] ever. [Emojis] should not exist and the people who came up with the idea for [the Emoji Movie] deserve to die a painful death.

[Jessica]

Things that managed to get on adolescent girls beds, clothing, etc.
The [premise] of a most-likely shit movie coming in [2017].
A new language that will take over the world.
Unreadable [squares] for people without iPhones or Samsungs.
Wild animals commonly sighted on social media sites and messaging chats.

[Magaret]

Emoji (from Japanese 絵文字, read えもじ) (pl. emoji) are the tiny pictures you can put on your texts.

The word dates back to the early Japanese mobile phones. With the [iPhones] plethora of icons, the word emoji became widespread, as it was what the keyboard was named.

It is made of two components, 絵 and 文字, meaning picture and letter respectively.
Therefore, any claims that tie the word to emoticon are etymologically WRONG.

Many teenage girls put way too many emoji in their texts, resulting in more icons than text. Some clever people manage to draw pictures using emoji, or play [Connect Four], [Tic-Tac-Toe], or even Chess using emoji.

[Sommer]

A small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion.

[Becky]

Originated in Japan, the word Emoji comes from the Japanese e meaning picture and moji meaning character and popularized on Japanese mobile phones in the late 1990s.

Once adopted by Apple and Google in 2011 they have become a global phenomenon. They are now often referenced in phone OS updates. Selection of Emoji introduced in iOS 11.1

[Monty]

a digital image that is added to a message in electronic communication in order to express a particular idea or feeling