Show surveys: Small symbols for Gen-Z particularly important

For many in digital communication, emojis are hard to imagine. This is also shown by two current surveys for the World Emoji Day. According to Bitkom survey, every fifth person in Germany uses emojis in every message-women much more often (25 percent) than men (17 percent). Hearts, kisses and smileys with heart eyes are particularly popular. However, there are also differences between the generations.

A third (34 percent) even fall back on emojis among the under 30 year olds (34 percent), with the group of over 65-year-olds it is still 12 percent. But not in all worries emojis for joy, 20 percent of the approximately 1,000 respondents show up According to the survey even annoyed by them. In addition, 62 percent of the respondents stated that they had already felt misunderstood by emojis.

Nevertheless, Dr. Konstantin Peveling, social media expert at Bitkom, emojis as helpful: “Emojis have become a form of digital language. They help to express emotions, increase messages and make the tonality more clear in written communication,” said Peveling. “Emoji’s creating closeness – also across language boundaries.”

Influence of gene z

Above all, there seem to be large generation differences: According to a survey by the Atlassian Teamwork Labs and Yougov, a large majority of the Gen z-Skied (88 percent) sees as helpful in everyday work. The majority of the Gen-X or BabyBoomer Skillers (51 percent) hold emojis According to the press release In the professional context, however, not helpful. Especially in teams who are less likely to exchange ideas, but primarily communicate remote primarily, this difference can lead to profound cultural misunderstandings.

The written text often lacks indications of emotions and the like, which can lead to misunderstandings. According to the survey, there would be a lot of working hours to “interpret the news from other colleagues”. According to Atlassian, Emojis could close a gap and replace non-verbal feedback for the Gen-Z, whose share in the world of work is to increase in the world of work by 2030. 61 percent of the gene Z stated to read messages more if they contain one or two emojis and they feel rather motivated by emoji reactions-unlike the baby boomer.

“The gen z instinctively knows how to manage online communication. It therefore knows how to express itself clearly, to arouse the right emotions and build up connections-without ever entering a meeting room,” says Dominic Price, Work Futurist at Atlassian. For cross-generational communication, he recommends that employees should refresh their emoji knowledge.