The New Face of Business Communications? :-O

When our COO came to me earlier this week to express her astonishment at the increasing use of emoticons and shorthand in business communications, I found it a topic worthy of further discussion. Should this new trend be reserved for teenaged texters? Or has it found a new home on Wall Street?

Personally, I don’t mind the smiley face in an e-mail every now and then. In fact, I clearly remember its progress on AOL and AIM from the basic happy/sad face to a wide variety of emotions. But would I dare use them on a resume, cover letter or professional letter? Now, even I know better than that. 

According to The New York Times, emoticons “have conquered new landscape in the lives of adults, as more of our daily communication shifts from the spoken word to text.” But now, after 25 years of use (the smiley is older than I am?!), the emoticon has jumped off the page and into our spoken language. “Even grown men on Wall Street, for example, will weave the term ‘QQ’ (referring to an emoticon that symbolizes two eyes crying) into conversation as a sarcastic way of saying ‘boo hoo.’” 

But do they belong in business? After some research, it seems the general consensus is no. Inc. editor-at-large Leigh Buchanan finds them insulting, as if assuming one lacks the emotional intelligence to infer attitude from mere words. So, she continues, “what does it say about a company when employees pepper their e-mail with the sort of juvenile glyphs common in MySpace chats?” My advice: Save the smileys for your cell phones and instant messages if you want to be taken seriously in the business world.

Posted by Kate Patton