LOL: How we laugh online

The internet is a damn funny place. It's full of cat videos and bizarre memes that brighten our day. Such ridiculous content deserves the right response but as a society we've never managed to settle on one way to show we are laughing online. Facebook just released it's latest data on how people giggle on the net, and it's full of a few funny surprises!

LOL is dead

The once prevalent "LOL" (Laughing out loud) is now used by a shockingly small 1.9% of users. Generally those using the term were older and female.

Interestingly “lol”, “lolz” and “loll” are all present in the study, but there is no sign of “rofl” (rolling on the floor laughing) or “lmao”, (laughing my arse off) - despite both being popular a few years ago.

So what is it being replaced with?

In terms of popularity "haha" is now ruling the roost. Other variations were "hehe". Overall four letter e-laughter appears to hit the sweet spot, followed by six characters (e.g. hahaha). There must have been one incredible joke in the study however, as there was an e-laughter that was 600 characters long!

The study does also show the prominent and fast rise of the emoji for laughter. Overall, younger users and women are more likely to use an emoji when amused and men prefer to use hehe. 

The one area the study doesn't look into is gifs however. With the addition of the feature to some social networks many users are looking out for any excuse to use them. I mean, let's be honest - they are just the best.