New Zealand marketplace Trade Me has enabled its members the use of emoji when responding to or asking questions.
According to Trade Me chief product and technology officer Simon Young, New Zealanders have been asking for this feature, as emoji have become part of the universal language of modern communication.
“Kiwis love to use emojis and how they can use them to communicate with other Trade Me members onsite,” Young said.
“What this also means is that members can now use macrons and characters from other languages within the Q&A section. We hope this will allow Trade Me members to communicate more freely.”
Young adds that, based on consumer feedback, the business will look into adding the feature to its descriptions, feedback areas, and more in future.
TradeMe was at the centre of an effort to have a representative kiwi bird emoji designed and added to the emoji list last year, having members of the public share their own creations using Instagram using the hashtag #kiwiemoji.
The marketplace chose a winner, seen below, and submitted the design to the Unicode Consortium last year to attempt to have it ratified as an official emoji.
