Better Meetings Day #9: Learn to Love Your Emoticons

Happy Weekend, everyone

Have you ever thought to yourself…

• I want to use an emoticon, but it seems unprofessional.
• Why do people use emoticons? How immature and inappropriate.
• Emoticons are for kids.

We’re here to inform you: Don’t underestimate the power of emoticons! It is widely known that to be successful in business, one must be logical.  However, it is important to balance logic and emotion in the way you communicate because humans are both rational and social beings.  A news article explains that “over 85 percent of thought, emotions and learning occur in the unconscious mind….our reasoning strategies are defective.”

Of course, there is a time and place for everything.  Emoticons are best used as a complementary communication aid for informal settings, such as texting, blogging, and instant messaging.  It can help convey tone behind your message when words are being exchanged rather frequently and improvised.

As for emails, there is a bit of a grey area.  It depends on the audience and the message being delivered.  In most cases, emoticons are widely accepted in emails, and should be used to a minimum to set a general tenor for the message.

White papers and any formal publication of any sort should avoid the use of emoticons.  However, these communication channels have much less frequency than the ones we use everyday at work and in meetings (text, blog, IM, email).  This creates a wide opportunity to convey your message with a social intent!

Give it a try.  Insert an emoticon at your next opportunity to communicate at work.  Just make sure to be aware of your intent and audience, and you just might end up loving it.

Some of our favorite emoticon applications: 

Google Chat
Emojinator for iPhone
Microsoft Messenger for Mac or PC
Setting emoticons for WordPress