Facebook says LOL is dead - it's now all about 'haha'

R.I.P. LOL - or at least that's what Facebook is saying anyway, in a recent study conducted on the demographic of humour online.

Facebook scanned posts in the USA during the final week in May this year, revealing how people "laugh online" - and how it varied by age and location.

The study concluded that a simple "haha" is now more popular, claiming 51.4% of instances in the study. Emojis came in as the second most popular form of "e-laughing" at 33%, and "hehe" ranked third.

Lol was a measly 1.9%. Poor Lol.

All the cool kids

Emojis are more popular among younger folk, according to the study, while Facebook also found that females use more emojis than males. However, southern states of America still use LOL more than other areas.

With all the cool kids turning their backs on original 'netspeak' in favour of emoticons, maybe we're seeing a shift to a more visual form of communication. Why use words when a picture will do just as well?

As language reflects the ever-changing shift in how generations use technology, this won't be the last change we'll see in the linguistic landscape. Soon, in the age of brainscanning, people won't need words or pictures, they'll just be communicating directly with thoughts through brain-scanning caps.

*winky face*

• The humble mouse pointer is about to be 'reborn' in 3D