Slack has released emojis into the workplace communication platform, allowing users to express more emotions in what they say.
The "like" button has become very common among all forms of social media. However, simply pressing the "like" button for certain things to acknowledge a comment or post is not sufficient to express the user's feelings. In other times, the button is not appropriate at all, despite the user's wish to acknowledge something.
"We knew that if people wanted something for showing appreciation that everyone else could see, we really needed something else," wrote the Slack team in its official blog.
The launch of emojis on Slack is the answer to frequent requests from platform users who have been asking for a feature that could show different kinds of reactions on news feeds and messages.
Slack has released over 300 icons in the new emoji feature, with such a number required for the wide array of reactions that users may want to express. There is the classic symbols for thumbs-up and thumbs-down, along with images for clapping hands, cute animals, stars, a blushing face, and many more.
In addition to being able to express a wide range of emotions, the emojis can also eliminate the need to type out messages when responding to certain posts, as what the user wants to say can be conveyed using a single symbol.
Users that respond to posts with emojis will see the icons displayed right beneath the post. If more than one user responds to that post using the same emoji, a number will appear beside the icon signifying the number of users that did.
Greeting a new office employee would now only require a wave emoji. Commending a co-worker for a job well done would now only need an applause icon. In addition to simplifying the message, the feature will also cut down on very long e-mail and message chains where everybody is saying the same thing, and instead compresses that into the emoji icon with the number the states how many expressed the same feeling.
Slack has made a new arrangement on its emoji selector for a more logical way of organizing the icons, and the platform also now includes reactions in the Recent Mentions sections. This will allow users to see all the reactions that the user has received in his or her posts.
