The Wait for LinkedIn’s Funny Reaction Might Just Be Over!
Author: Team WH
Published On: 03-06-22
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
For a long time, LinkedIn users have demanded a funny reaction option ever since the platform has seen a surge in funny content. To their surprise, team LinkedIn is now working on expanding its reaction options.
According to the company’s Chief Product Officer Tomer Cohen, the platform might soon introduce a laughing emoji. “I wanted to start with one of the top requests we got — a laughing emoji reaction. We hear you loud & clear, and we agree. Humor is indeed a serious business,” said Mr. Cohen.
Adding Another Feather in LinkedIn’s Quick Response Set
You might be reading several posts on LinkedIn every day. Some of these are informative, job-centric, and often amusing.
After coming across a witty or funny post, you would naturally want to leave a suitable reaction. At this time, LinkedIn’s reaction set consists of only five emojis.
Clearly, none of these emojis help you react to an amusing LinkedIn post in an appropriate way. Adding a ‘funny’ emoji to the existing response can make such quick replies possible.
Do we really need a “funny reaction”?
Since the announcement of a possible laughing emoji inclusion, some LinkedIn users are questioning the move.
These individuals believe that a funny reaction is unsuitable for a professional networking platform. According to these users, including the new feature can attract social media influencers to post comical memes.
Also, some LinkedIn users consider the funny reaction as ‘unprofessional’ to use on the business platform.
The case for a ‘funny’ reaction
Collaborative platforms like Microsoft Teams have quick reactions to engage with messages and posts. By introducing a laughing emoji, LinkedIn can offer an improvement in three aspects:
- Innovation
- Emotion
- Interactivity
Users can present their ideas in a slightly humorous tone through this move. As a result, the platform can become more engaging and introduce humor to the daily feed.
Having said that, there is no official announcement or a date that introduces the laughing emoji. Hence, you will need to wait for a while to witness the new addition.
Are additional quick emojis the way ahead for linkedin?
You might already be using instant emojis on social media platforms. One of the crucial reasons for this feature is the presence of a younger population.
However, although a business platform, most LinkedIn users are comparatively young. Around 60% of global LinkedIn users lie in the range of 25 to 34 years.
This young working audience prefers higher engagement through interactive emojis and reactions. Importantly, this aspect saves time for replying to a post. Hence, considering an approximate 80% user base under 35 years of age, a couple of emoji additions can increase the overall engagement.
At this time, the new emoji doesn’t appear in LinkedIn’s Help Page section. Still, you might be able to soon witness and use the laughing emoji for expressing humor to a relevant post.
