People in the UAE vote to create a 'togetherness' emoji

Emojis have been around since the 1990s, but they have worked their way into our everyday life since the launch of smartphones. So much so, that today is the sixth official World Emoji Day.

And to mark the occasion, Etisalat has been on a mission to create an emoji that it feels has been missing from our keypads.

Etisalat and UAE residents have helped to create a 'together' emoji.

The UAE-based network has spent the past week asking its customers to vote on what would be the best ‘together’ emoji, something which, conveniently, fits in with their ethos “Together Matters”.

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After a week of voting on social media and in malls across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Etisalat believes it has found the perfect emoji to represent the notion of togetherness.

The winning design features three typical smiley emojis – one eyes closed smiley, one wide mouthed smiley, and one winking smiley – huddled together in a pyramid-shaped cluster.

It beat off two other designs, both of which featured linked hands of various skin tones, to come out on top.

While the emoji is not yet an official addition to the Unicode keyboard, Etisalat says it plans to submit the design to the company, which is responsible for creating and approving all emojis.

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If it is approved, you could soon see the UAE-created emoji on your phone’s screen alongside other new additions which were announced a while ago, including a falafel, a flamingo, and a person in a wheelchair emoji.

People in the UAE vote to create a 'togetherness' emoji

The drive was led by Etisalat, and the emoji will be submitted to the Unicode Consortium and could become part of your phone's keypad