#Thumbsup yellow skin
#Thumbsup yellow professional

KHALID: I had actually (ph) thought of that. RAHMAN: So I think for many people, the 'Simpsons' yellow signifies white, even if it's actually not. On 'The Simpsons,' there were yellow people, and there were brown people, and there were Black people. I mean, if we look at 'The Simpsons,' I think 'The Simpsons' does kind of influence a lot of people's use of the yellow emoji. RAHMAN: (Laughter) Yeah, no, that's so interesting. And I'm, I will say, particularly curious about this because I am a frequent user of the Bart Simpson yellow. But it seems like there is an argument from some people against using the yellow default. KHALID: We heard from people earlier opting for the yellow one to not get race involved for some people or do not maybe promote their whiteness. And yeah people - I guess in my personal research, I found that white people tended to use the yellow emoji much more than people who were visibly people of color.

#Thumbsup yellow skin

RAHMAN: I found that there was research to show that the lightest skin tone was actually used the least, even though the white Twitter users outnumber Black Twitter users 4 to 1. And I want to begin with a somewhat basic question, which is who tends to use skin-toned emojis more? What did the research that you found say? KHALID: So Zara, you wrote an article on all of this a few years back. She's a writer and researcher based in Berlin.

To help us understand, we've brought in Zara Rahman. But since then, a seemingly easy choice has become somewhat fraught. KHALID: Skin-toned emojis first rolled out in 2015, so it's been a while.

#Thumbsup yellow professional

I just don't have the emotional capacity to unpack race relations in the professional setting. JENNIFER EPPERSON: I use the default emoji, the yellow-toned one for professional settings, and then I use the dark brown emoji for friends and family. KHALID: For other people, the choice depends on where the messaging is happening and who they're messaging with.

LAURA JOHNSON: In particular, Ijeoma Oluo and her fabulous book, 'So You Want To Talk About Race' - she made me realize that our culture tends to default to whiteness, and that yellow emoji is white. KHALID: Laura Johnson from Austin, Texas, says she used to think the yellow emoji was neutral, but then she started reading a book that made her rethink that view. But if I use a darker color emoji, which maybe more closely matches what I see when I look at my whole family, it's not what the world sees, and people tend to judge that. RACELA: I present is very pale, very light skinned, and if I use the white emoji, I feel like I'm betraying the part of myself that's Filipino. KHALID: Racela says he usually goes with the yellow emoji because it does it represent any specific ethnicity or skin tone. I am three-quarters white, but I'm also a quarter Filipino. HEATH RACELA: This is Heath Racela in Littleton, Mass. I posted about it on Twitter this week where I learned clearly this was not an isolated obsession. I, too, have long been curious and a bit confused by the race politics of emojis.

She says she's not offended when a non-brown friend uses a brown emoji, but would like to understand why. She's Black and originally from California. KHALID: That's Sarai Cole from Berlin, Germany. I have some friends who use the brown ones, too, but they are not brown themselves. SARAI COLE: I use the brown one that matches me. There's the 'Simpsons' yellow version and then five different skin tone options. KHALID: But it's not that simple because there's not just one thumbs up option. (SOUNDBITE OF IMESSAGE NOTIFICATION SOUND) And I want to reply with a simple thumbs up emoji. So a lot of times I find myself texting a friend.