Amid tech layoffs, saluting-face emoji is the placard of the digital world

As Twitter saw massive layoffs, followed by mass resignation, saluting-face emojis emerged as the employees' go-to for expressing their solidarity and protest

Ever since Elon Musk took over the social media platform Twitter on October 27, seldom has a day passed when he did not make it to the headlines. From carrying a sink to the office on his first day to advocating "hardcore" work culture, the richest person on the planet has found one way or the other to be the talk of his digital "town". But the whole fiasco has brought forth another newsmaker, the Saluting-face emoji.  

As Twitter employees resigned following Musk's demand to participate in an "extremely hardcore" way of work, Slack, the communication platform used by the company, got flooded with saluting-face emojis. The employees posted the emoji as a sign of protest before logging out and resigning. Some posted the emoji to say they lost all access to the company's Gmail account.

Soon, the use of the emoji spilt over to Twitter as well. Users tweeted the saluting-face emoji while notifying others about their resignation. Others replied using the same emoji, showing their solidarity.

One user even said it should be declared the "emoji of the year".

The growing clout of emojis

According to a 2019 research titled A Systemic Review of Emoji, "Emojis are used in communication to promote interaction including establishing an emotional tone, reducing discourse ambiguity, enhancing context appropriateness and intensifying or weakening speech acts."

Since the 1960s, the use of emojis has seen a massive jump. This has been attributed to wider options and their ease of use.

According to Unicode, from just one "smiley" in the late 1960s, the number of emojis today has risen to over 3,600.

Another research by Unicode showed that as many as 92 per cent of the world's internet population used emojis. A survey by Adobe further revealed that 89 per cent of users believed emojis made it easier for them to communicate across language barriers. 

Their popularity has climbed such heights that in 2015, the "face with tears of joy" emoji was chosen as the "Word of the Year" by the Oxford Dictionary.

The saluting-face emoji has taken centre stage in 2022, a year that will be remembered for tech layoffs. Google searches for the emoji have gone up over four times since February. On Emojipedia.com, it is currently the sixth most popular emoji in the world.

Keith Broni, editor-in-chief of Emojipedia.com, earlier told the New York Times (NYT) that it was one of the "most requested" emojis from users before its introduction to the website.

The saluting-face emoji may carry a more tragic message amidst this winter in the job market. A sign of disappointment and insecurity in the outgoing employees. A symbol of uncertainty in the times to come.

But surely, in today's digital world, it stands where the good-old placard once did.