No need to use words. You can now invite a client on LinkedIn to grab a beverage by sending a sticker of a smiling coffee cup.
Emojis and GIFs are making their way into the workplace and now LinkedIn, like other social media businesses, is allowing users to send more than just text in an instant message.
The business-oriented social network said Monday night that it was revamping its messaging service, unveiling a new design and allowing LinkedIn users to add stickers, GIFS and emojis along with photos and documents in their messages.
If you re like me, you re probably having more and more short-form and casual conversations with your professional peers every day. As you would over text or in-person, it s now easier for you to have meaningful yet lightweight ways to reach out and light up your professional relationships through conversations, wrote Mark Hull, director of product management at LinkedIn.
About 76 percent of American workers admitted to using emojis in the workplace, according to a 2014 survey by mobile messaging company Cotap and consulting firm Kelton Global.
Google in March sent an animated GIF of a young girl moving her head and hands in confusion to a reporter at The Daily Dot who asked the tech firm about Youtube s livestreaming plans.
LinkedIn isn t the only tech firm that has been stepping up their instant messaging game.
Twitter recently lifted dropped a 140-character limit on direct messages. Facebook have also been ramping up messaging this year through its standalone app, allowing users to send money, GIFs, converse with businesses and more. The social media giant is also testing a personal digital assistant dubbed M.
LinkedIn isn t ruling out the idea for its own messaging service.
We re excited about concepts like intelligent messaging assistants that can help suggest people you should message or provide you with relevant information about that person before you start a conversation. Or the possibilities with voice and video to make conversations more compelling, Hull wrote.
An estimate of how many people use messaging on LinkedIn was not immediately available Monday. The new messaging experience will start rolling out Tuesday to LinkedIn s English-speaking members on iOS, Android and desktop.
Photo Credit: LinkedIn
