Keller @ Large: Emojis Taking Over Communication

BOSTON (CBS) - Is there anything more ubiquitous in our web driven culture than the emoji, those bits of digital shorthand that can be seen everywhere, from Survivor to the Victoria's Secret runway to - believe it or not - new-age renditions of Shakespeare classics?

Facebook has just announced they'll be test-marketing a series of emojis as new alternatives to the "like" button on their site, and that will just add an extra boost to the culture's headlong rush toward communication through the fewest words possible, if any.

Emojis are so popular, even baby-boomer politicians like Hillary Clinton are trying to get into the act, with an appeal for feedback on her student-loan plan that was parodied by Stephen Colbert on a recent "Late Show": "The 'Hillz' doesn't want her campaign to be a one-sided conversation, she wants to have a rap 'sesh' with the youth," he joked. "'How does your student loan debt make you feel? Tell us in 3 emojis or less.' Because nothing shows respect for college-educated voters like asking them to sum up a lifetime of crushing debt in three cartoon faces."

Funny stuff, but there's a serious side to all this.

Shakespeare via emoji may be a way to hook the kids, but really. A future of teens communicating almost exclusively through emojis doesn't seem so far-fetched in a culture where texting slang and Twitter have already reduced conversation to brief spasms of remote-control chatting.

And I have to admit, there's a certain appeal to the notion of turning our thoughts over to digital shorthand. See the accompanying video for how that might work. And let me know what you think of this new emoji world below.