Facebook knows how you laugh, and it's not using 'LOL'
The new way to laugh online is "Hah aha" or through emojis, at least according to Facebook.
In response to a New Yorker article on "Hahaha vs. Hehehe," Facebook thought it would be fun to figure out how its users laugh online.
The winning laugh is the "Haha," but it can vary wildly by region. Florida really likes emojis, which may be good to know come election season.
To learn how we laugh, Facebook researchers analyzed posts and comments written in English during the last week May. They did not analyze direct messages, so we don't know people laugh or use emojis in private, according to the blog post.
Still, 15 percent of people who commented or posted during that week laughed in some way.
The clear winner was the "Haha" with 51 percent of uses. Emoji took second place with 33 percent and the "hehe" trailed behind at 13 percent.
Apparently what we post isn't amusing enough to inspire laughter out loud because only approximately 2 percent of posts used "lol" at all.
How we laugh also depends on gender and where we live. "Hahas" and "hehes" are slightly preferred by men whereas women are more likely to opt for an emoji.
Florida, though, dominated emojis and "lols" while the west coast preferred the "hehe" to the rest of the country. The darker the color on the map below, the more popular a laugh is compared to other states.
Facebook has more of a breakdown here.