Microsoft is finally working on a new update for its Teams collaboration platform that will hopefully help team members stay more engaged while in group or 1:1 chat. In a recent post in the User Feedback Forum, a company spokesperson confirmed that Microsoft Teams is increasing the number of emojis in an upcoming update.
“Thank you for your feedback! Our team is currently working on a significant update to add a broader and more diverse selection of emojis to Teams. We will share an update as soon as one is available. The ability to add custom emojis and custom reactions is still under review, and we will share an update as soon as one is available,” the company explained.
Currently, Microsoft Teams offers a wide range of emojis in a chat message, but people can use only six for quick reactions. These emojis keep things moving forward and productive, but when compared to Slack, it’s really behind. Slack users can choose to add from a large library of emojis, or they can create and upload their own custom emoji.
The ability to add custom emojis, emoji reactions, and GIFs has been highly requested from remote workers and students who have been using Teams in recent months. In fact, the feature request was originally posted on Microsoft’s UserVoice forum in November 2016, and it has received over 14,500 upvotes.
Microsoft Teams still has a long way to go before catching up to Slack in this regard, but it’s finally something to be taken seriously in 2021. The upcoming diverse range of emojis should help remote employees improve collaboration in the absence of body language, facial expression, and the other advantages of in-person communication.
