• About
    • About the FIA
    • Priorities
    • Our Team
    • Brainstorming Board
    • Partners and Affiliates
    • Contact Us
  • News + Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Videos
    • Newsletters
    • @FIAumd
    • In the Media
  • Spark Grants
    • Spark Grants Overview
    • Spark Grants FAQ
    • 2012-2015 Seed Grants
    • 2012-2015 Seed Grant Winners
  • Special Topics
    • SearchReSearch
    • Curated Topics
FIA

SearchReSearch

Answer: Finding interesting uses for emoji/Unicode search?

Dan Russell • November 7, 2016
 SearchReSearch
Republished with permission from SearchReSearch
Answer: Finding interesting uses for emoji/Unicode search? Dan Russell

This was an unusual Challenge.

Remember that I asked:

Can you find interesting and useful cases when a search includes an emoji or a special Unicode character? Say WHY you find this use case interesting.

Here's what I found as interesting search cases...

1. Math symbols. You can search for math symbols to find web docs in very specialized areas. For instance, if you just don't know a symbol, you can use ShapeCatcher or Google Docs to draw the character you're trying to understand, and then look for web pages that contain that character. Here's my example of using ShapeCatcher to draw a symbol I found in a textbook:


An example of using ShapeCatcher.com to draw a character and recognize it.

For instance, you might already know these symbols:

∈ - element-of (e.g, 1 ∈ { 4, 3, 2, 1 }

Δ - delta (a Greek letter, but also used in math)

≅ - approximately equal to (e.g. 3.5 ≅ 3.4999)

And so on. This is a handy way to find tutorial information about a particular math topic. For example:

[ ∈ ⋂ highschool ]

will find a LOT of high school worksheets, practice exams, and tutorial materials for set theory. (Which use the symbols ∈ and ⋂.)

2. Fraction symbols. As you might know, many fractions have their own Unicode character as well. That is, you can search for common fractions like: ½ ¾ ⅓ You can search for these as well:

[ ½ cup butter in ml ]

which shows you the conversion table:

This is especially useful when searching in Books:

3. Emoticons in common phrases. You've probably seen emoticons in popular advertising phrases before. This one is especially famous: I ❤ NY (link to the Wikipedia entry on this phrase)

By using the * search, we can find other uses of the "I ❤" pattern.

[ "I ❤ *" ]

And we find that "I ❤" something is pretty popular:

You can also do searches for similar characters: "I ♠️ my *" or... well, you can imagine.

4. Emojis for searching out kinds of content. According to the analysis site FiveThirtyEight.com, out of all the emojis, there's a limited number that are used very often. (From the top: Heart, Joy, Unamused, Heart Eyes... etc. See the article for the top 100.)

This makes me think that using some of the more commonly used emoji might be handy for locating content with a particular sentiment. Here's an obvious one to look for positive sentiment about Katy Perry on Twitter:

[ ♥️ Katy site:twitter.com ]

which then gives you a lot of pro-Katy Perry fan content (should you want that):

Or another one, with the Joy emoji:

[😂 comedy Los Angeles ]

Which gives you:

5. Emojis for finding genres of content. We've already talked about versions of this (e.g., using chess symbols ♔ ♘ ♖ to find online chess games), but you can carry this forward into other kinds of genres.

6. Domains with emoticons! As several Regular Readers pointed out to me, GoDaddy (the web-hosting giant) is now offering an "Emoji Domain Name" search engine. That is, you can go to their website, ❤❤❤.ws and see what kinds of emoji domains you can buy.

As you know, traditionally, domain names have been straightforward Latin characters--such as PowerSearchingWithGoogle.com Now, however, they can be emojis, such as the domain:

🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕.ws

When I did a quick spot check there, I found that some obvious domains have been already snapped up: 🍕.ws (and all pizzas up to length 6 are already gone!). Fraternity names are also mostly already gone: ΔΔΔ.ws and so on. But there are domains still to buy! I see that ☠🏀.ws is still available (for fans of death basketball).

You can't really make this stuff up.

I hope you enjoyed this little Challenge. I'll be back on Wednesday with another SearchResearch Challenge for the week.

In the meantime, let me know if you come across any other uses for emoji/Unicode search.

Search on... in multiple character spaces!

Share

Comments

This post was republished. Comments can be viewed and shared via the original site.
5 comments

About the Author

Dan RussellDan Russell

I study the way people search and research. I guess that makes me an anthropologist of search. While I work at Google, my blog and G+ posts reflects my own thoughts and not those of my employer. I am FIA's Future-ist in Residence. More »

Recent News

  • Deepfakes and the Future of Facts
    Deepfakes and the Future of FactsSeptember 27, 2019
  • Book cover for Joy of Search by Daniel M. Russell
    The Joy of Search: A Google Insider’s Guide to Going Beyond the BasicsSeptember 26, 2019
  • The Future of Facts in a ‘Post-Truth’ World
    The Future of Facts in a ‘Post-Truth’ WorldMay 15, 2018
  • The Future of Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Storytelling
    The Future of Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive StorytellingJune 6, 2017

More »

Upcoming Events

There are no upcoming events scheduled. Please check back later.
Event Archive »
Video Archive »

Join Email List

SearchReSearch

  • SearchResearch Challenge (3/22/23):  What do you call the sediment that blocks a river from flowing to the sea?
    SearchResearch Challenge (3/22/23): What do you call the sediment that blocks a river from flowing to the sea?March 22, 2023
  • Answer: What do these everyday symbols mean?
    Answer: What do these everyday symbols mean?March 15, 2023
  • SearchResearch Challenge (3/8/23): What do these everyday symbols mean?
    SearchResearch Challenge (3/8/23): What do these everyday symbols mean?March 8, 2023
  • PSA:  Read Clive Thompson’s article about how he does research
    PSA: Read Clive Thompson’s article about how he does researchMarch 3, 2023

More »

University of Maryland logo
Robert W. Deutsch Foundation logo
Google logo
Barrie School
Library of Congress logo
State of Maryland logo
National Archives logo
National Geographic Society logo
National Park Service logo
Newseum logo
Sesame Workshop logo
Smithsonian logo
WAMU
© 2023 The Future of Information Alliance, University of Maryland | Privacy Policy | Web Accessibility