How accepted is using smiley faces in today's informal and formal written communication?
Hello everyone!
I'd really appreciate your opinions and thoughts on this one.
Writing emails to colleagues, I sometimes find myself on the fence whether to use smiley faces or not. I usually do use them with my colleagues, but of course less with people working outside of my organization. Over the years, I feel I've been using them more and more. The way I explain this is that I feel that, today, people are generally more aware of the limitations of written email/messages - i.e. they are easily misinterpreted as they lack body language.
Thank you for your input!
DJB
Top answer
The better I know someone, the better I can judge whether smiley faces are appropriate. That means I generally know who likes them and who doesn't, so I use them more with people who like them, and less with those who don't. That said, I don't use them in any business setting.
- The better I know someone, the better I can judge whether smiley faces are appropriate.
- That means I generally know who likes them and who doesn't, so I use them more with people who like them, and less with those who don't.
- That said, I don't use them in any business setting.
- Drawing an inference from what you mentioned about misinterpretations, this leaves me with the task of more proofreading and revisions to be sure I don't accidentally send the wrong message to someone.
- This is all more like self-observation than advice, of course, but so far it's worked for me.
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The better I know someone, the better I can judge whether smiley faces are appropriate. That means I generally know who likes them and who doesn't, so I use them more with people who like them, and less with those who don't.
That said, I don't use them in any business setting. Drawing an inference from what you mentioned about misinterpretations, this leaves me with the task of more pr
0dokterjokkebrokHow accepted is using smiley faces in today's informal and formal written communication? (Original post)
In formal writing, not at all.
0Pretty much all I ever write for other people is online communication. I never use smileys or any of that stuff. If I need a caveat, I put it in words. They are a crutch that will weaken your prose. Besides, a happy face after a rude comment will just seem sarcastic.
0Use them only with people that are relatives or close friends. They are inappropriate for business correspondence. They might be misunderstood.
0
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