What Facebook Discovered About the Different Ways We Laugh Online
Are you a "haha," "hehe" or "LOL" person?
— -- R.I.P LOL.
Facebook revealed in a new study titled "The Not-So-Universal Language of Laughter" that the infamous LOL is dying off in favor of "haha," "hehe" and various emoji used to convey something has tickled a person's funny bone.
The most common way people showed off their e-laughter is through "haha" and longer variants, with 51.4 percent of people using it to express their amusement, followed by 33.7 percent of people choosing to go with emoji. "Hehe" came in third place with 13.1 percent while "LOL" registered with a measly 1.9 percent.
The survey was conducted in response to a New Yorker article examining the way people laugh online. Facebook looked at people in the United States and limited the study to posts and comments, meaning any e-laughs sent privately through Messenger were not included.
The data set also revealed there are differences both geographically and between men and women when it comes to expressing laughter.
"The hahas and to some extent the hehes are preferred by men, whereas emoji are clearly dominated by women, who also seem to like the lols a bit more than men," the study explained.
Meanwhile, "Haha" and "Hehe" are clearly favored on the West Coast. Midwesterners prefer their emoji while southern states tend to stick with the age-old Internet tradition of "LOL."