Do you use emojis in work emails?

wegs

wegs

Matter and Pixie Dust
Valued Senior Member
Internally with colleagues, or with clients?

No, for me, when it comes to clients, but on occasion, I’ll add a smile emoji if I’m congratulating colleagues on a project well done, or something like that.

With clients, it’s not appropriate imo, unless I have a really close relationship with them, but even then, I don’t use them with clients.
 
Yes, true. Very few of my colleagues use them, so I tend to follow the lead of others. However, I prefer a smile emoji in place of “lol.”

I’d never use “LOL” in a professional setting.
 
I don't think it's appropriate in a professional setting only because it's not profession to kid around to the extent that an emoji is needed. I don't use LOL in any setting.
 
Seattle said:
I don't think it's appropriate in a professional setting only because it's not profession to kid around to the extent that an emoji is needed. I don't use LOL in any setting.
Click to expand...
Really? Never?

What do you use to convey humor, or laughter? Not in a business setting but say, on here or on social media?

You use :) on here a lot, but sometimes I think you mean it as sarcasm. ~ lol
 
wegs said:
Really? Never?

What do you use to convey humor, or laughter? Not in a business setting but say, on here or on social media?

You use :) on here a lot, but sometimes I think you mean it as sarcasm. ~ lol
Click to expand...
I, as you say, use :) I don't mean it as sarcasm. When I don't use it that where the sarcasm usually comes in.

If I say, yeah, that's a great idea. (that's usually sarcasm).
If I say, yeah, that's a great idea:) (I mean it even if it seems like a funny thing to do).

I just don't like using "lol, TLTR, Poe's Law". I do use IMO however so I'm not consistent I guess.
 
Seattle said:
I, as you say, use :) I don't mean it as sarcasm. When I don't use it that where the sarcasm usually comes in.

If I say, yeah, that's a great idea. (that's usually sarcasm).
If I say, yeah, that's a great idea:) (I mean it even if it seems like a funny thing to do).

I just don't like using "lol, TLTR, Poe's Law". I do use IMO however so I'm not consistent I guess.
Click to expand...
I feel that “lol” is overused to the point where it doesn’t really mean “lol,” anymore. I tend to use it a lot however, so if we had more emojis to choose from on SF, I probably wouldn’t use it nearly half as often. :oops:

I have a client who uses “ : ) “ next to her name in her signature. It doesn’t look bad but maybe she wants to show that she’s a light-hearted client.
 
wegs said:
I feel that “lol” is overused to the point where it doesn’t really mean “lol,” anymore. I tend to use it a lot however, so if we had more emojis to choose from on SF, I probably wouldn’t use it nearly half as often. :oops:

I have a client who uses “ : ) “ next to her name in her signature. It doesn’t look bad but maybe she wants to show that she’s a light-hearted client.
Click to expand...
The one that you will never see me use is "prolly". That one almost makes me angry. :) That and "puter" as if it's just too much to type of "computer" or as if a computer is some new fangled gadget that the user is almost embarrassed to admit they have.

"Prolly" just sounds stupid (to me). Am I going to watch the game tonight...prolly. It's as if speaking proper English is just too pretentious so it's prolly best to jess talk like dis.
 
I wouldn't. I rarely use them in forums.
Reasons: It's lazy - you're not making the effort to express your own thoughts.
It's cowardly: you're hiding your reaction in a manufactured image.
It's disrespectful: whoever receives your message is considered not bright enough to understand the the text without illustrations.
It's childish: don't you have a vocabulary?
 
I disagree with Jeeves (not a problem with that of course). It's sometimes hard to pick up on humor rather than something being literal, in written form so :) clears that up.

It's not "childish". It's not formal grammar but it can be appropriate, IMO, on informal internet messages.

It's not "cowardly", it's not "disrespectful". It's not traditional and that's about it.
 
Jeeves said:
I wouldn't. I rarely use them in forums.
Reasons: It's lazy - you're not making the effort to express your own thoughts.
It's cowardly: you're hiding your reaction in a manufactured image.
It's disrespectful: whoever receives your message is considered not bright enough to understand the the text without illustrations.
It's childish: don't you have a vocabulary?
Click to expand...
-_O:?:oops::rolleyes:o_O>_<:wink::confused::mad::redface::D

I just couldn’t find the right words!

Being serious, you’re not wrong to feel like you do. I think emojis can be fun on occasion, but not at work. I have a coworker who “hearts” my responses to things in Teams chat. That’s another thing, actually. “Likes” and “hearts” feel lazy to me in business, but we use them on here, LinkedIn, social media etc so it just depends on the setting.
 
wegs said:
it just depends on the setting
Click to expand...
And the age of the participants. Older people might prefer actual words. Really old people like me prefer entire thoughts expressed in sentences. And, please no random capitalization!
 
For me it depends on the nature of the e-mail. If the e-mail is really just an informal conversation in typed form then, yeah, I use them, so that the tone of the words can be better understood quickly and easily. I don't go overboard, but ensure that sarcasm or another specific tone is understood. With emails that are more like formal letters, such as to external people, then no, but then the language and structure also become much more formal, and there I'd consider emojis inappropriate.

In general about the use of emojis:
I don't consider it lazy, although can be, rather efficient.
I don't consider it cowardly, as you're overtly describing your emotion through an efficient picture, rather than hiding it within more formal language where emotion can be stripped out.
I don't consider it disrespectful either, unless the email should be formal. And between friends, or colleagues where those boundaries have been set as informal, I find it to be an accepted, and thus respectful, shorthand. I wouldn't use them if someone has told me they don't like them, however.
I don't consider it childish, either. Playful, perhaps, at least with some emojis. But childish? No.

But as with all things, one can take it too far. While I'm sure the yoof of today could possibly write entire sentences, or have entire conversations, in just emojis, that is a step too far for me.

I don't think age per se has anything to do with it, either, but perhaps the age one feels and/or whether one is reluctant to change with the times. My nan, bless her, loves emojis, and often uses the wrong ones (although we now suspect that's deliberate on her part!). And she's an internet-browsing lass in her 90s!! (She likes the big text-sizes you can get on news web-sites compared to newspaper print.)
 
I like to use emojis in texts, mainly. Professionally? There’s just too much room for emojis to turn off a client and you don’t know your colleagues that well to feel that emojis could be okay to use. Although, in texts to coworkers, I use them.

This has been an interesting discussion! I like reading the different views.
 
I would not use an emoji with a client unless they had already used one first, and in that context it was totally appropriate. With a coworker, I might (rarely) use a smiley when we are both happy, never just because I am happy.

One of my coworkers shares memes with clients, which I think is a bit odd. It's like, get a room you guys, lol.

Yeah, I just used just "lol", but I think it was in context. I only use 'lol' on here, not professionally.

Also, I don't like emojis on here, because if we are not logged in, then all we see is a notice about a missing image. I don't like logging in hoping to see an image, and then only finding a smiley.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top