Business emoticons lettering to the cabinet. Emoticons and Business: Use should not be neglected. What is the difference
Now emoticons have become such a familiar way of expressing emotions that almost no dialogue with friends and colleagues can do without them.
When it comes to business correspondence, people try to avoid emoticons because it looks “frivolous”. And maybe in vain. Emoticons help a person appear friendlier and more open in online correspondence and even improve the real mood.
Having a good mood isn't all that emoji can do, however, and here are seven studies that prove it.
1. Smilies are associated with popularity on social networks
An analysis of over 31 million tweets and half a million Facebook posts showed that positive emoticons increase the popularity of people on social media.
The head of the experiment, Simo Choknai from the Cambridge Computer Laboratory, and her colleagues compared users by the number of followers and the Klout Score (a tool that takes into account a whole set of parameters for assessing authority in social networks).
It turned out that people using positive emoticons most often have a high Klout Score and are quite popular on Twitter.
Positive emojis have become an indicator of high influence on social media - on both Twitter and Facebook.
2. A person reacts to an emoticon like a real smiling face
Australian scientists from Flinders University in Adelaide (Flinders Univercity) studied the perception of emoticons and found that when a person looks at an emoticon, the same parts of the brain are activated as when he sees a real smiling face.
Emoticons have become a new form of language that humanity has created, and in order to recognize this language, certain patterns of behavior are created in the brain.
Dr. Owen Churches, Scientist at Flinders University School of Psychology in Adelaide
The smiling face is used heavily in marketing and the media, as it is a very effective way of influencing. And since our brain does not see any difference between a real face and emoticons, why not use it for our own purposes?
Most of us pay more attention to our face than everything else. It has been experimentally proven that people tend to react more vividly and diversely to faces, and not to other categories of objects.
Owen Churchez
3. Smilies are good even for business correspondence.
Yes, there are still many areas in which emoticons are not applicable, but they are gradually making their way into the business arena. More and more work emails are being supplemented with smilies, and one study proves that people are not at all against it.
Scientists at the University of St. Louis, Missouri, investigated how people perceive emoticons in business and personal emails. The group of participants in the experiment was shown two types of letters: a personal letter in a flirty tone and a request for an interview for a job. Scientists have added emoticons to some of these letters.
The participants in the experiment liked the senders using emoticons more, regardless of whether it was a business letter or a personal one.
They felt that the sender of the letter was more friendly, and, accordingly, they liked him more than the one who wrote his letters without emoticons.
That is, emoticons in business letters did not embarrass the participants in the experiment and did not reduce the level of trust in the applicant who sent such a positive interview request. Even when up to four emojis appeared in a business letter, people still treated the applicant well.
Typically, in business letters, it is customary to use a dry, impersonal tone to show your professionalism and build trust with employers or clients.
However, after the experiment, scientists concluded that emoticons make business letters friendly, emotional and personal, which people really like and do not cause them resentment or distrust of the author of the letter.
4. Smilies soften criticism
If you are about to respond to someone with a critical comment about their work, emojis can help soften the impression of your feedback and not elicit hostile backlash.
A study by Chinese scientists has shown that when employees receive criticism and feedback softened by emoticons from their superiors, they perceive them much better and get to work with more enthusiasm, correcting what was said in the letter.
Emoticons reduce the level of negativity in the letter and reassure the employee of the sender's good intentions. So he gets to work with great enthusiasm.
5. Smilies help you appear more friendly and competent
If in Internet correspondence you want to create an image of an intelligent and open-minded person, the same emoticons will help.
Proof of this can be found in the results of a study in which participants chatted with "experts in the field of health" and "experts in the film industry."
Some "experts" used emoticons in their communication, others did not. As a result, the most competent and friendly were those who added positive emoticons.
In addition, this study revealed another great feature of communication using emoticons: they help you better remember the information you read. Here's what the author of the study writes:
Emoticons seem to increase cognitive abilities, as in conversations using emoticons, participants memorized the contents of the chat much better.
6. Emoticons make work more comfortable
The negative effect of email has long been known. It lies in the fact that the recipient of the email looks more negative than it really is. That is, the sender did not include in the letter that negative connotation that the recipient sees.
This is because, when communicating via email, we do not hear the tone of voice that reflects the real emotions of the interlocutor, and we also cannot evaluate non-verbal signs.
To prevent your emails from being perceived negatively, you can eliminate this effect by using emoticons.
In 2013, researchers at the University of Florida conducted the following study: 152 employees read different emails, with or without emoticons, during their workflow.
Sample message:
I cannot come to the meeting you have scheduled because I am meeting with other staff at this time. Email me and let me know what I am missing.
I cannot come to the meeting you have scheduled because I am meeting with other staff at this time. Email me and let me know what I am missing. :-)
When participants were asked what they thought of these messages, emojis were found to reduce the negative effect in business emails: refusing to meet was perceived much less negatively when it was supplemented with an emoji.
Smilies help convey the sender's tone, make him friendlier and warmer. Scientists believe that incorporating emoticons into work correspondence will help telecommuters more accurately understand the tone of emails and reduce the amount of aggression and tension in the work environment.
7. Emoticons are associated with pleasure
And the last reason to include emoticons in your correspondence more often is pleasure and a feeling of happiness.
A study from back in 2008 showed that people who use emoticons experience more pleasure, perceive information more intensely and get more benefit from it.
Do you only use emoticons in personal or business correspondence too?
The arcanumclub.ru project got into the TOP of Yandex and Google for an uninteresting (in principle) query to me:. But ... the traffic - it is also traffic in Africa, it is never superfluous. However, creating unnecessary load on the server. Which is already a problem.
Scrolling through VKontakte the other day I came across an interesting (IMHO) publication that I mercilessly copied and pasted (on the spread). Since the topic.
Why you should use emoticons in business correspondence
Emoticons help convey your emotions, soften criticism and appear friendly and open in correspondence. Moreover, modern research shows that emoticons provide popularity on social networks, help to remember information and can even make a person happier.
Yes, there are still many areas in which emoticons are not applicable, but they are gradually making their way into the business arena. More and more work emails are being supplemented with emoticons, and one study proves that people are not at all against it.
Scientists at the University of St. Louis, Missouri, investigated how people perceive emoticons in business and personal emails. The group of participants in the experiment was shown two types of letters: a personal letter in a flirty tone and a request for an interview for a job. Scientists have added emoticons to some of these letters. The participants in the experiment liked the senders using emoticons more, regardless of whether it was a business letter or a personal one. They felt that the sender of the letter was more friendly, and, accordingly, they liked him more than the one who wrote his letters without emojis. That is, emoticons in business letters did not embarrass the participants in the experiment and did not reduce the level of trust in the applicant who sent such a positive interview request. Even when up to four emojis appeared in a business letter, people still treated the applicant well.
Typically, in business letters, it is customary to use a dry, impersonal tone to show your professionalism and build trust with employers or clients. However, after the experiment, scientists concluded that emoticons make business letters friendly, emotional and personal, which people really like and do not cause them resentment or distrust of the author of the letter.
Well: perhaps these animations will still serve on the Internet for a while. Although their popularity today has seriously declined. It's a pity. But they got new sound options: "emoji", "emoji", "Emoji". Young web visitors have a different mindset.
Fundamentally, I do not perceive these healthy newfangled "emoticons". They lack the charm and charm that were in the old, kind, familiar and understandable kolobok emoticons. Maybe they'll be back? Will wait.
The order got enough. The use of emoticons and emoji is simply off the charts today. And there are times when it's appropriate. And it happens well, just like a mockery of the normal way of thinking.
My opinion is that communication on the Internet looks like communication in real life only at first glance.
Quite the opposite is true.
Being internet friendly seems to be easier. So is it being fun.
Put a smiley face - and you are already an open shirt-guy.
One problem is born. People stop believing if you overdo it with emojis.
A few of my rules of communication on the Internet
- Honesty with a person. If I do not know how to do something or do not have time, I say so. Especially with customers. It is appreciated.
- Respect for the freedom of another. A person does not owe anything to anyone.
- Humor only with those whom I know personally or have made little contact. This is especially important, since too much humor without the right to do so will spoil the impression forever.
Very often, instead of being honest, a person tries to hide something.
it turns out artificially.
For instance:
- Hello how are you?
- 😃 Hi. Fine. Nice to hear from you 😃
The more smilies, the less you start to believe.
This is the same as in the famous example. The man writes:
"- I love you" - do you believe
"- I love you very much" - you believe too
“- I love you very very very much” - you believe less.
The main problem with emoticons is that they do not convey meaning, but only emotion.
If the text has little meaning, but you dilute the communication with a smile, this will not increase the information content, but will only increase mistrust.
And there is one place where using emoticons is inappropriate. This is business correspondence.
And I am not saying without proof, intuitively I felt it earlier. But I recently found research that looks at this.
Research on the use of emoticons in business and informal correspondence
Studies have shown (,,) that when meeting a smiling person is perceived as more attractive, sincere, cordial and competent than more serious. Now both business and personal communications are increasingly moving to the Internet and people have to make up the first impression about the interlocutor by e-mail. And more and more often, emoticons are used in business correspondence. In one study, researchers analyzed 1,600 business emails from different companies and found that emoticons were used in 18 percent of them.
- Do the addressees perceive the writer as a more cordial and authoritative person if he inserts emoticons into letters;
- in what context is the use of emojis considered appropriate, and how inappropriate use of emoji influences the formation of the first impression.
The researchers conducted both online and offline experiments. The first of them was attended by 203 students and female students of the University of Amsterdam. They were asked to look at photographs of a young man and a girl smiling or with a neutral expression, and read one of two versions of a welcome letter that a new employee of the company allegedly wrote to his colleagues. The text of both letters was the same, but one of them used emoticons, and the other did not. The participants then had to rate the warmth and competence of the people in the photograph, as well as the person who wrote the letter.
As a result, the participants in the experiment rated the warmth and cordiality, as well as the competence of people smiling in a photograph, higher than people with a neutral facial expression (p< 0,001). В то же время смайлики в письме мало повлияли на оценку «нового сотрудника», как теплого и сердечного человека. При этом участники сочли, что «сотрудник», который использовал в письме смайлики, был менее компетентным, чем тот, кто ограничился текстом.
Evaluation of the warmth and competence of the people in the photographs and the person who "wrote" the business letter. On the left is the assessment of people in the photographs. Dark gray columns - neutral face, light gray - smiling face. On the right is the assessment of the "employee" who wrote the business letter. Dark gray columns - text, light gray - text with emoticons.
E. Glikson, A. Cheshin, G. A. van Kleef / Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2017
The researchers then tested the appropriateness of the use of emoticons in correspondence. They drew up two texts of a letter from a new employee to a company secretary he did not know. One is formal, with the question of where the meeting of colleagues will take place; another informal - in which the "future employee" asks where the Friday party with colleagues will take place. Both letters were written both in plain text and in the form of text flavored with emoticons.
For the new experiment, the scientists engaged 85 people from the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. The participants were asked to read one of the variants of the letter and evaluate not only the cordiality and competence of the person who wrote the letter, but also the appropriateness of emoticons in formal and informal versions of the text.
The results of the experiment turned out to be similar to the results of the previous one. Participants considered that more incompetent employees inserted emoticons into the formal letter (p< 0,001), и что в формальной корреспонденции эмодзи неуместны (p < 0,003). Кроме того, они практически не повлияли на оценку написавшего их человека, как теплого и сердечного. С другой стороны, употребление смайликов в неформальном сообщении мало повлияло на оценку компетентности человека и уместности добавлениея эмодзи. Но в то же время, участники эксперимента посчитали «сотрудника», употреблявшего смайлики в неформальном письме, более сердечным человеком (p < 0,003).
Assessment of cordiality (left graph), competence (middle graph) and the appropriateness of using emoticons (right graph) in formal and informal letters. The left column pairs are formal letters, the right pairs are informal letters. Dark gray columns - text variants of the letter, light gray - text with emoticons.
(E. Glikson, A. Cheshin, G. A. van Kleef / Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2017)
When you meet someone who smiles, you are perceived as more sincere, open and competent.
the researchers analyzed 1,600 business emails from different companies and found that emoticons were used in 18 percent of them.
If you use emoticons in business correspondence, you immediately look less competent in the eyes of the interlocutor.
The use of emoticons is appropriate in informal, friendly correspondence
But at work - I do not allow myself to do this.
Use of capital letters, CAPSLOCK
And one more thing, since I am here sharing my thoughts on the correspondence.
NEVER USE CAPITAL LETTERS LIKE ME NOW! THIS IS PERCEPTED AS A SCREAM! A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!
Agree, it is very difficult to read such a text.
Because capital letters always evoke an emotion similar to the one we get when someone yells at us.
Why provoke. Even if you have a super important thought, it is better to write it in lowercase - then the person will at least read it.
Use emoticons and emojis smartly.
Shortly about myself: Entrepreneur, internet marketer, commercial writer, Christian. Author of two blogs (and Words of Encouragement), head of the "Word" text studio. I have been writing deliberately since 2001, in newspaper journalism since 2007, and I have been making money exclusively with texts since 2013. I love to write and share what helps me in trainings. Since 2017, he has become a father.
You can order training or texts by mail or by writing in a personal message in a social network convenient for you.
While some people believe that adding emojis to work emails helps convey a friendly tone, new research has shown that this practice can be harmful.
Scientists point out that using emoticons in work-related emails can make you seem incompetent - especially if you don't know the recipient.
The researchers hope their findings will encourage people to think twice before using emoticons in business correspondence.
Scientists from the University. Ben-Gurion in the Negev assessed the effect of using emoticons in work-related messages. Dr. Ella Glickson, one of the study's authors, says: “Our data provides the first evidence that emoticons do not increase the perception of emotional warmth, but actually decrease the perception of competence. In formal business letters, an emoticon is not a smile.
The researchers conducted a series of experiments in which 549 participants from 29 countries took part.
In the first experiment, participants were asked to read an email related to the work of an unknown person and assess their competence and emotional state. Although the email content was the same for all participants, some included emojis and some did not.
The results showed that emoticons in emails did not affect the perception of emotional mood, but negatively affected the perception of competence.
Dr. Glickson adds: "The study also found that when participants were asked to respond to emails on formal questions, their responses were more detailed and they included more content-related information when the email did not include an emoticon."
In another experiment, the researchers compared the use of emoticons to a smile or neutral photographs. They found that in photographs, a smiling sender is perceived as more competent and friendly than a neutral one.
That being said, when a work-related email included an emoticon, the sender was considered less competent.
Interestingly, the researchers also found that when the gender of the email author was unknown, recipients were more likely to assume that the email was sent by a woman if it contained an emoticon. However, this did not affect the assessment of competence or friendliness in any way.
"An emoticon can replace a smile when you already know another person, and in the beginning, interactions of these characters are best avoided, regardless of age or gender."
