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Vyv Evans, PhD
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STORM DORIS, JANUARY DIETS AND ED SHEERAN TICKETS: WALL'S ICE CREAM REVEALS THE VERY BRITISH OUTRAGES OF 2017 SO FAR
'Unhappiest moment of 2017' so far is the 'Moonlight and La La Land' mix up at The Oscars
Storm Doris spawns more negative emojis than Brexit on Twitter
Monday, 20th March: Despite economic woes and a looming Brexit, Brits are a nation of optimists if the UK's emojis are anything to go by. Wall's ice cream reveals today that happy emoji usage has increased by 312% year on year, with Brits taking to the Twittersphere to share 307,102 smiley emoticons in the last month alone.
Meanwhile, the number of sad emojis increased by a modest 87% in comparison – revealing that the British stiff upper lip is alive and well.
To mark International Day of Happiness today, a global movement that promotes greater emphasis on happiness and wellbeing, Wall's ice cream has collaborated with language expert Professor Vyvyan Evans to unveil the UK's first realtime emoji-mometer.
The algorithm analysed the UK's tweets to chart the collective mood of the nation over the past 15 months - and while the results suggest Brits have a propensity to look on the bright side, the data reveals it's the everyday frustrations that see people take to social media to vent.
Top British outrages of 2017 to date:
Moonlight/La La Land mixup at the Oscars
Storm Doris
Leicester manager Claudio Ranierie being sacked
January diets
January tube strikes
Failing to get Ed Sheeran tickets
The courgette shortage
Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry split
Professor Robert Kelly being interrupted by his kids on BBC World News
Working in collaboration with Wall's as honorary Chief Emoji Officer for the project, Professor Vyvyan Evans identified the 'power of positive emojis'.
He commented: "For the first time, we've been able to track emoji usage against realtime events to identify patterns in the nation's emotional highs and lows. In times of adversity we have a tendency to look for commonality and take great comfort in shared experience, so it's not surprising that the seemingly smaller things – from missing out on Ed Sheeran's gig tickets to a big loss for our favourite football team - emerged as the key themes binding us together.
"But it's also reassuring to see that positive emojis are significantly outpacing their negative counterparts; concrete proof that Brits are optimistic by nature."
The emoji-mometer will be live streaming the UK's emoji usage throughout Monday 20th March to mark International Day of Happiness, with the ambition to encourage the nation to break its own record for the number of happy emojis shared in a single day. This can be found at - www.goodbyeserious.com
The Wall's emoji-mometer uncovered further surprising trends in the UK's disposition:
In the last week alone, 84,574 happy emojis and 33,743 sad emojis were shared
Surprisingly Monday doesn't get the most sad emojis: it's actually Tuesday, with an average 14,300 sad emojis shared on Tuesday compared to 13,600 on a typical Monday
The happiest day of the week is not Friday or Saturday, but actually Sunday: on average, 77,900 happy emojis are shared on a Sunday – proving it really is 'Sunday Funday'
Looks like Blue Monday isn't myth after all, Brits shared over 244,435 sad emojis this year in reaction to what is dubbed the gloomiest day of the year
What's the best time to ask your friend to lend you that tenner? People are most likely to express their happiness between 8-9pm
Meanwhile sad emojis are most often shared on a Tuesday – proving Brits reluctance to settle back into the working week
About Wall's:
Wall's was originally founded in the UK by Richard Wall in 1886 and has become one of the most well-known ice-creams in the UK & Ireland. We believe that people need small moments of pleasure in their lives, treats that make them smile and lick their lips with delight. Who better to provide this but Wall's ice cream - after all with over 80 years of experience making ice cream, we think we're pretty good at it!
Britain is a nation of optimists -- 20th March 2017, The Daily Mirror
Dr. Vyvyan Evans
Email: v.evans@vyvevans.net
Web: www.vyvevans.net
© 2022 by Vyvyan Evans
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