Using smiley face emojis in work e-mails could damage your career. Research shows that if you put emojis in work mails, people might think you are incompetent. Researchers asked 549 people from 29 countries for their reaction to emojis. The people judged the competence and warmth of the e-mail writer. A researcher said: "Smileys do not increase perceptions of warmth and actually decrease perceptions of competence….A smiley is not a smile."
Emojis are often misunderstood. In some cases, technological problems can mean that an emoji displays differently in e-mails. This is because the writer and reader use different software or operating systems. Emojis started in Japan in the late 1990s. They quickly became very popular. Over six billion of them are sent every day around the world. There is even a World Emoji Day. This is on July the 17th every year.