After unveiling new photo editing tools and post notification features, Instagram has released its latest update that supports emoji hashtags. This means that posts that were previously marked with emoji characters will now show up in searches as well.
In Instagram’s blog post, the company explained that “[o]ver the past few years, emoji have become part of a universal visual language… we use emoji to communicate emotions and feelings in ways that anyone can understand, regardless of language or background”.
With an increase in the number of brands utilizing emoji to enhance consumer experience, such as Foot Locker, IKEA and Game of Thrones, these emoticons could well become a ubiquitous element in communication.
Perhaps over time, we might resort to wholly speaking emoji, which would come as a delight to ‘The Emoji Translation Project’.
The hashtag revise wasn’t the only addition to Instagram though. The app also included three new filters, ‘Lark’, ‘Reyes’ and ‘Juno’.
‘Lark’ caters more to landscape images by playing down reds and adding more life through richer blues and greens.
‘Reyes’ creates a sooty, old school look to images.
‘Juno’ is recommended for pictures of people; it accentuates warm tones and white glows while rinsing cool tones green.
Download the new updates from the App Store and Google Play.
[via Mashable, images via Instagram Blog]