On Wednesday June 1, Justin Bieber posted a cartoon version of himself to his 70 million Instagram followers with the caption "Friday". While this could mean a billion things, a lot of people have been speculating that he is the latest celebrity coming out with their own Emoji keyboard.
It's not news that people are obsessed with Emoji. According to research from eMarketer, there are 2 billion smartphone users worldwide, and on those devices, around 6 billion Emoji are sent Every. Single. Day. That's almost the entire population of Earth sent in Emoji form on a day to day basis!
But for celebrities like Charlie Sheen and Rick Ross, Emoji are much more than silly little faces or tiny cartoon tigers and pears – they're a business. In an interview with USA, Moji Inc. founder Oliver Camilo, who has worked on designing Emoji-specific keyboards with Fetty Wap and Amber Rose, says celebrities can make a ton of money from releasing their own 'moji keyboards.
"Within the first 60 or 90 minutes from launch, Amber hit the number one top paid app in the Apple Store. She kind of validated that there is a lot of revenue in this."
Since Kim Kardashian (aka the queen of the internet aka the person you love to hate) pioneered the way for celebrities to weave their way into Emoji culture, celebrities of all sorts (rappers, internet celebs, singers, and more) have started to design and put together their own Emoji packs for their fans. While some can be downloaded independently, the majority of them are actually part of Moji Keyboard (opens in new tab), an app that's home to a number of celebrities with their own Emoji designs. The app is free to download, but some celebrity Emoji packs may cost you.
We compiled a few celebs who have their own Emoji keyboards for you to check out down below, but is there a celebrity that you'd kill to have develop their own Emoji? Or do you think big stars coming out with Emoji is just plain stupid?
- Kim Kardashian - Kimoji (opens in new tab)
- Amber Rose - MuvaMoji (opens in new tab)
- Kanye West - YEmoji
- Future - Future Emoji
- Blac Chyna - Chymoji (opens in new tab)
- Charlie Sheen - Sheenoji (opens in new tab)
- Ariana Grande - Ari by Ariana Grande (opens in new tab)
- Wiz Khalifa - WIZmoji (opens in new tab)
- Fetty Wap - FettyWap Emoji (opens in new tab)
- Steph Curry - StephMoji
- Martin Solveig - MartinSolveigEmoji (opens in new tab)
- The Game - The Game Emoji (opens in new tab)
- Austin Mahone - Austin Mahone Emoji (opens in new tab)
- Princess Pia Mia - Pia Mia Emoji (opens in new tab)
- Zeds Dead - ZedsDead Emoji (opens in new tab)
- Lil Dicky - LilDicky Emoji (opens in new tab)
- DJ Snake - DJSnake (opens in new tab)
- Rick Ross - RickRoss Emoji (opens in new tab)
- Shaun T - Fitmoji (opens in new tab)
- Violet Benson aka Daddy Issues - Slaymoji (opens in new tab)
- Dennis Graham - DennisGraham Emoji (opens in new tab)
- ASAP Ferg - ASAPFerg (opens in new tab)
- Carnage - CarnageEmoji (opens in new tab)
- Logic - LogicEmoji (opens in new tab)
- ILoveMakonnen - ILoveMakonnenEmoji (opens in new tab)
- Bro Safari - BroSafariEmoji (opens in new tab)
- Big Gigantic - BigGiganticEmoji (opens in new tab)
- G-Eazy - G-EazyEmoji (opens in new tab)
- Yogi Berra - YojiBerraEmoji (opens in new tab)
- Snails - SnailsEmoji (opens in new tab)
