‘LOL’ Is On The Way Out, Says Facebook Study

‘LOL’ is the least popular way of expressing laughter online, according to a new study by Facebook.

According to research from the social network, a massive 51.4% of Facebook users favour ‘haha’, while just 1.9% use the phrase ‘LOL’, suggesting that the outdated abbreviation of ‘Laughing Out Loud’ could be on the way out.

The research also shows that the average users of emoji and ‘haha’ are younger than those who use the less fashionable ‘hehe’ or ‘LOL’.

Carried out in response to an article on the changing nature of ‘e-laughter’ by Sarah Larson in The New Yorker, the research also showed that ‘LOL’ users are more likely to be men, while those who use emojis to express laughter on the web are more likely to be female.

In emoji-based laungher, a single emoji is used 50% of the time, while Facebook users rarely use more than 5 in a row - unsuprising as the idea of emojis is to shorten the message.

Facebook studied age ranges from 13 to 70 and looked at the use of the three phrases haha, hehe, lol, plus the use of emoji.

The study was limited to posts and comments, and didn’t include direct messages sent via Messenger.

Facebook also plotted the laughter between several major U.S. citiies, and found that LOL was used the most throughout the southern states.