Mastering the Art of Good Digital Body Language - Part III
Where do exclamation points and emoji fall under the digital body language?
Exclamation points are like eyebrows
They can be raised or furrowed eyebrows or an expression of excitement, urgency or shouting. Sometimes they are perceived as alarming or threatening.
It's important to know your audience and be thoughtful about how others would interpret those exclamation points in the right way.
Exclamation points are also interpreted a bit differently across genders. Erica Dhawan, an award winning author and motivational speaker, said:
Research shows women are more pressured to use multiple exclamation points and are expected to whereas men don't feel the pressure to soften their messages.
Emoji is our new facial expressions
Happy, sad, grateful and different range of emoji. People need to think before they emoji.
Make sure you have that level of trust with someone. Not just to signal happiness but some cases passive-aggressiveness or anger as well.
In certain instances, the use of emoji may signify a person's immaturity and lack of professionalism. Therefore, it's important to understand a company's culture and email practices.
Emoji can be also used differently in different cultures.
For example, the thumbs up emoji in western cultures means okay, got it, we are good, but in other cultures like Nigeria and Afghanistan, it's a vulgar and offensive emoji. So remember that emojis are not all the same around the world and be conscious of your digital body language.
Takeaways
Know your audience before using exclamation points
Think before emoji as they can be interpreted incorrectly or reflect poorly on the sender
Be mindful as certain emojis are perceived differently in different cultures
More on this blog series:
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