The latest in Emoji are the Soundmoji of Facebook Messenger: here's how the sound smilies work in chats.
Giuseppe Croce Journalist
Peppe Croce, journalist since 2008, deals with electronic devices and new technologies applied to the automotive world. He joined Libero Tecnologia in 2018.
Saturday July 17 is World Emoji Day (yes, there is also this) and Facebook celebrates it in advance by launching Soundmojis, which as the name says are Emoji with built-in Sound. The new feature is being released globally and should be available to everyone as early as Saturday.
Emoji are now ubiquitous in chats on Messenger, and beyond, and according to Facebook over 2.4 billion of them are sent around the world every day via the instant messaging app. They're a fun way to brighten up chats, de-dramatize, communicate your mood without writing. Unfortunately, they are also sometimes the cause of misunderstandings, since there are now so many of them that it is impossible to know the meaning of each one. Now Emoji can also speak, or at least make sounds, and this adds an extra detail to the communication.
How to use Soundmoji
To try Soundmoji just start a chat in Messenger, tap the smiley face and select the speaker icon. At this point you can preview and then send one or more Soundmoji to the contact you're chatting with.
The sound played depends on the smiley face sent: there's laughter, crickets, applause and more, and even short audio clips from American movies and TV shows.
Soundmoji when they arrive in Italy
As mentioned, Facebook wants to hurry up and launch Soundmoji on World Emoji Day, so it's a matter of a couple of days.
Initially, a small set of Sound Emoji will be released, which will be enriched in the future with subsequent releases. It is likely that already by the end of the year there will be several dozen available.