Emojis are creative but can cause workplace confusion, linguistics professor says

In the occasion of World Emoji Day, a lingustics professor says emojis are creative but can be chaotic and cause confusion in a workplace.

Victoria University's Miriam Meyerhoff told TVNZ1's Breakfast a survey found people over the age of 55 in a workplace think using emojis in emails and other forms of communication look either unprofessional or incompetent.

"The survey also found that two-thirds of young people who are sending emojis had to explain them to friends and family," Ms Meyerhoff says.

"Emojis also give you tone of voice, which is where some confusion arises. Fifty per cent of people that responded to the survey across the whole country say that they’ve had misunderstandings with emojis and 17 per cent say that they’ve actually gotten into pretty big trouble because of it."