In an age when communication has evolved from telephone calls to email, message chats and social media, people are using shortcuts more and more and communicating in symbols. Emojis are being used more and more in social media and are incorporated into many forms of written communication as well as apps like Facebook Messenger, iMessage, Instagram and WhatsApp. Emojis are practically becoming an official language, allowing people who speak different languages to communicate using symbols. Some experts say that emojis should supplement communication, but should not replace it.
Expression symbols like emojis help people express themselves in social media and other written communication, where an author’s statement may be misinterpreted or taken the wrong way. Many people would agree that emojis are a fun and easy way to express feelings and reactions, but some critics say emojis are dumbing down the way we communicate.
In response to the growing use of emojis, Google recently released a Google Workplace Update that emojis will be available in Google Docs at the end of April as a feature alongside their comment and edit options, allowing users to directly react to text using Google’s sidebar. Google Docs will include an emoji catalog, including a wide variety of emoji reactions. The emoji feature will be automatically available by default and cannot be removed.
Users have used smileys and other popular emojis in their communications, but now have many new choices.
In Google’s blog, detailed information about the latest version of Emojis (version 14.0) was given, including gender-neutral selections and other choices to express a user’s identity.
To add emoji reactions to a Google document:
- Open a Google Doc
- Select the text you want to use an emoji with
- Click “Add emoji reaction” on the right margin > insert > add emoji reaction.
- Choose your emoji or search for an emoji in the emoji catalog.
