Who doesn't love when an emoji or emoticon fit perfectly into a message seamlessly conveying their feelings? We all do. Whether in an email or text message, often times it is hard to express emotions, like confusion, sarcasm, wit, or excitement, in a professional environment.

Did you know that the emoticon has been around since 1982?! But, emojis (the graphic icon version of an emoticon) are a much newer development and therefore, there is limited precedent of how they should be used in different settings.

Should you use them or should you avoid them?

Emoticon VS Emoji. What's the difference?

Emoticons are a combination of symbols that loosely depict the human face i.e. “:-)”. As mentioned earlier emoticons have been around since 1982 when they were used on online message boards. Scott Fahlman, a research professor at Carnegie Mellon, found that members did not understand when posts were sarcastic or humorous. Thus the emoticon was created!

Emojis, on the other hand, are the offspring of emoticons. These are actual images of the emotions in the shape of pictograph faces i.e. “😀”. Most operating systems are compatible with emoji keyboard settings that make it very easy to use in all types of text messages.

Moving Into Business

Besides the traditional form of online messaging, such as email and text, these days businesses work with social media and other online platforms for communication. Although each may require a different approach to using emoticons, in business there a few guidelines and tips to incorporating them. Emoticons may be a necessary evil, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a right way and a wrong way to use them.

• Unfortunately for many, smiley faces :-), are the only kind of emoticon you should be using in a business correspondence. That means no shocked faces :-O, no winking faces ;-), and no frowning faces :-(. A frowning face is perceived as inherently sarcastic and not a good way to convey sympathy.
• Furthermore, smiley faces should not be overused. They should only be used when trying to convey actually happiness or sarcasm i.e. a joke that can come off as serious in a message.
• Remember when we discussed emoticons versus emojis? Well, there is also a difference professionally between them too. Simply, an unconverted smiley is the better and safer choice when having the urge to emote during an email.
• In addition, if your simple smiley faces are getting converted into emojis, there is usually a solution. Most programs, including G-chat, allowing you to set unconverted emoticons as your default.

Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t use emoticons in initial correspondences.
• Do wait till you have formed more of a relationship before exploring the introduction of emoticons.
• Don’t confuse established relationships with formal relationships. If the relationship does not include any niceties then don’t use emoticons in online messaging.
• Do explore using emoticons in emails with co-workers you are more friendly with. Leave them out when you are messaging a number of co-workers or your superiors.
• Do feel free to use emoticons when utilizing a chat program with co-workers if a prompt response is needed but be sure to get a feel for the correspondence first.