Emoji usage: how you express your mood and emotions in Confluence?

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

Hey, Confluence users! 💙

That question bothers me for a while. I see more and more platforms releasing support for emojis, gifs, reactions, and various possible options for users to be "emotional" online. 

In the World Gone Wild situation, people look tired of constantly explaining how they feel. Liking, loving, and thumbs-up quickly become our first friends and saviors when a conversation (or content review) is stuck.

I am a big user of emojis, gifs, funny custom memes, anything that keeps the mood up, and my content funny and interesting (when appropriate, of course).

But honestly, as a user, sometimes I find it overwhelming.

I'm curious to hear your point of view and approach when it comes to conversations, tone, and emotions in the remote workplace!

[Sudarshan]

@Teodora V _Fun Inc_ Good thought.
Emojis are always the best helper to express your mood over a text. 
for conversation builders, I think a quick direct video msg could solve and express the exact expression that are needed.

[Barbara Berti]

The truth is that we make sense of the world through all our senses. Words alone are not enough and icons and emoji often come to our rescue. After all, pictures are the first written form of communication ever attempted so it is only natural that we tend to go back to that.

Actually, I wrote an article on the advantages of using icons, the takeaway message being that, if properly used, they enhance communication, make texts more readable and memorable. I'll let you decide what 'properly used' means :)

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

Thank you for linking your article, @Barbara Berti! Great read :) 

[Kristian Klima]

@Barbara Berti You probably won't like my post.

It's not that I don't use them :)

https://docs.emplifi.io/platform/latest/home/librarian

[Kristian Klima]

Hi @Teodora V _Fun Inc_ 

Emojis are fine to use but they are widely and wildly overused. As a tech/product docs writer, I 'dislike' this trend with all my heart, so much so I had to write a blog post about this and restraint myself when doing so :) 

As a user, finding one in the text once in a while feels refreshing, it has an Easter Egg quality to it.

If the text has to have an information value, a barrage of emojis is distracting. And if they're animated, it's seizure-grade content!

It's growing out of hand. When researching for my article, I came across several tech doc sites that were actually difficult to read.

Or in this example... Apparently, Alphabet is not enough and we need NUMBERS.

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

Thank you for sharing your views @Kristian Klima!  

I think you made a fantastic point, and I support your feelings about emojis being overused and even used in excessive quantities.

I admit we also do this with our Confluence pages, but I feel it's more of a "mandatory" step than a sign of usefulness. People are so used to seeing a visual representation of what this page may be about that sometimes they don't focus much on the titles. 

Big companies and heavy tech products are working hard to provide emoji support for desperate users who can no longer operate only with words.

I love the controversy on this topic.