Where do all roads lead to? The usual answer is Rome. For the time being, stay put in Rio till August 21. Sports and games are again the talk of the town with a brand new summer Olympic season getting underway in the Brazilian metropolis of Rio de Janeiro. Not just roads, social media is also following the trail and it is raining emojis on WhatsApp, Twitter and what’s more? The star players themselves are in the game releasing customised personal emojis on the platforms.
WhatsApp has added the iconic five interlocking Olympic rings as an emoji on Android and iOS. It comes packed in the WhatsApp version 2.16.7. This is being called a secret emoji as it needs coded symbols to be entered into the chat box in order to make the icon visible. Once done, it can be copy-pasted to other messages. Twitter pitches something extra to its tried and tested hashtag campaign. Apart from the popular tag #Rio2016, the microblogger offers a lavish package of 207 team emojis. Enter the three letter country code (for example #IND for India) to activate the flag emoji of the respective countries. In addition, there are more than 50 Olympics and sports emojis at play on Twitter. The hashtags for emojis can be triggered by entering the country code in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
For sports emojis, #Rio2016 and #Olympics, Japanese, Korean and Arabic languages can be entered. The flag emojis were released by athletes in respective countries. The Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt chipped in a week ahead of the start of Rio Olympics with ‘Boltmoji’ with support from Puma, which have him as its brand ambassador. The emoji keyboard has 41 emojis of Bolt striking different poses, his sports gear and icons communicating his Puma connect. The most celebrated victory pose of Bolt also figures in the list.
Michael Phelps, the 18-time Olympic gold medallist, has rolled out his #PhelpsMoji. “So pumped for my own emoji!!! Check it out!!”, Phelps screamed out in excitement on Twitter soon after the release of the emojis towards July end. The aquatic champion has an elaborate variety of impressions of his face and shows him indulge in a number of sporting activities. Phelpsmojis won’t come for free; the emoji pack can be had on Android and Apple platforms for $0.99.
