The idea of communication with a friend or co-worker seems like an easy process that is just what we do on a daily basis. As I read this week I came to think about how I communicate normally and how each transmission or conversation I need to think about the receiver and how he or she understands my message.
Not having nonverbal cues is vital in a conversation. My wife, two friends and I have a text thread that we have been writing back and forth to each other for about three years, since both our families moved from our old neighborhood. This thread has sarcasm, humor, heart felt feelings and lots of emoji’s (for a reason).
At first I wasn’t all about using emoji’s while sending messages. As time went on I realized that those pictures represented the nonverbal cues that are missed in text or emails. If you were being a little sarcastic you could add a winking face, just to let them know I’m not being serious. I started using these in a lot of text and it took the place of my facial expression or hand movements. Below is a screenshot of a small portion of the thread and in just a few sentences the pictures add more detail to understand the meaning of the text.
Less confusion was the outcome from these silly little pictures. At this point could print this thread and it would be like a picture book that pretty much anyone could read and understand even if they had no part of the original conversation or experience.
These pictures increase the effectiveness of the message no matter the receiver (PSU 2017). This goes for business and professional communication as well. I know big global business will not us emojis in communication but the idea isn’t a bad one. The more we use email and less face to face interactions the more that is lost in translation.
Penn State World Campus. (n.d.). Lesson 04: Global Communication. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from OLEAD 410: Leadership in Global Context: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1867265/modules/items/22824722
Samantha Lee wrote a funny little blog on the use of only emoji’s and I like her mother lose the nuances of the art.
Yet I learned that a Japanese company created then in 1990’s , and around two billion cell phones use users send out six billion symbols per day, data was found from Swyft Media site. Some say that language is disappearing so like your caveman reference maybe they had it right all along and pictures are the best global language.
But to me text with emojis are more of a foreign spy code that I have to decipher.
Hello Michael,
Thank you for your novel post about emojis being used within chat communication. It is worth noting that even within office settings emojis are being used. Chat communication wherein this is used includes both interanal and external customers. I cannot agree more with you regarding emojis adding communication layers to chat conversations. In a way, they are substituting for the subtle cues within face-to-face conversations. Interestingly enough, marketing researchers can data mine Facebook and other media for emojis. After all, each emoji, such as sad face, happy face, angry face, sick face, or whatever face, can be conveniently used for an information bucket. Notwithstanding whether or not a study is quantitative or qualitative, these emoji buckets have been used to gain real time market research data that can be encoded at a later time. Based on this, it is no surprise that social media giant Facebook is cashing into their market research value in a lucrative way.
References
Turnbull, S., & Jenkins, S. (2016). Why Facebook reactions are good news for evaluating social media campaigns. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 17(3), 156-158.