Commentary

Why LinkedIn Is Embracing Smiling Piles Of Poop

The next time you message a contact on LinkedIn, do you think they’ll prefer a smiling pile of poop or the classic yellow smiley face?

Both ill-advised options will soon be available to millions of LinkedIn members, thanks to a new chat-like messaging interface, which supports photo attachments, stickers, GIFs, and emojis.

For LinkedIn, the wacky redirection is clearly a stab at relevance at a time when messaging services are redefining social media. For proof, look no farther than the popularity of Snapchat, and Facebook’s continued investment in Messenger.

For sure, the business of mobile communication is changing rapidly, and is being driven by animated, entertaining, and humorous media options.

Indeed, once considered to be kids' stuff--and maybe only fit for East Asian tastes--stickers, GIFs, and emojis are proving suitable for ever-larger audiences.

For example, nearly half of all comments and captions on Instagram now contain emojis, the network recently reported. “If the overall trend continues, we might be looking at a future where the majority of text on Instagram contains emoji,” Thomas Dimson, a software engineer on the Instagram Data Team, said recently.

(Among U.S. users, the rise of emojis is largely attributed to Apple and its decision to add an emoji keyboard to iOS, in late 2011. The keyboard was later added to most Android platforms by mid-2013.)

LinkedIn isn’t the only network letting its hair down. Taking a page from Snapchat, Twitter appears to be testing some fun photo- and video-editing features, as TechCrunch reported this week.

But LinkedIn is LinkedIn. It’s a platform for business professionals to network with colleagues, and maybe connect with potential employers and employees.

Of course, there’s a place for silliness in professional circles (not that we’re encouraging any more Monty Python references), but we don’t think it’s in written message form.

A classic smiley face could complement a job offer, maybe. But rather than improve LinkedIn’s fortunes, the new messaging tools only promise many an awkward and inappropriate exchange.

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