Comments on: Emoticons: Keep Them Out of Posts

By: How badges, emoticons and javascript widgets can ruin your traffic

How badges, emoticons and javascript widgets can ruin your traffic — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:41:32 +0000

[...] with the smiley faces. While some people believe they make a blog look more personal, that’s not the look you want to convey when you’re hoping to make money with your [...]

By: almostgotit

almostgotit — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 20:50:53 +0000

I’m afraid I agree with Matt, particularly the smiley face I don’t use them too often in the body of a post, but often do in the comments section, as part of the conversation. You are right that we’ve been using text to communicate for some time now. And since approx 50% of oral communication involves non-verbal stuff as well, written text has always been a little different than the spoken word. More recently, however, electronic communication has begun to distinguish itself even a bit further, and things like emoticons are becoming increasingly acceptable in that format (particularly in e-mail — but I’d submit that e-mail should be just as professional as a blog post, and both are part of an increasingly VISUAL medium, in which photos, emoticons, and the like are almost analogous to hand gestures and facial expressions in an oral conversation…)

By: David

David — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:47:38 +0000

I disagree. Writers have been adding jokes in text form long before emoticons came around. I think people that want to use an emoticon, should go back, re-read what they wrote, and see if they can say it in a different way so that the readers understand that it is a joke, a sad moment, or something to be happy about, rather than just sticking in what I consider “instant messaging laziness”.

By: Matt Jones

Matt Jones — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:23:38 +0000

I really think this is down to the individual. It’s fine if you don’t use emoticons but they can be useful. For example they are by far the easyest way of showing you were joking about something.