Emoticons

Let’s get this out-of-the-way, I’m a Microsoft employee (at the time of this writing). It’s company policy to announce this when writing about company products, services, software, announcements, and anything remotely related to the technology industry. Disclaimer noted. This weekend, my child was asking questions about FaceTime vs Skype. Which is better? Why use one over the other? Whatever your technology of choice might be (Skype, Hangouts, Messenger, and more) communication has made great strides in the last ten years. Close your eyes. Go back in time. Think hard. Ever travel internationally? I remember going to great lengths to avoid roaming fees, including walking blocks to find a prepaid phone card down a back ally near a Chinese market. After the purchase, I ran back to the hotel room, dialed a number, and then entered a 52 digit code to complete the call. “Hello, darling, I only have a few of these cards so make it quick.”

There is a ton of cost/regulation in phone lines crossing country boundaries. Skype disrupted this. And today, the peer-to-peer technology manages more voice minutes than any telephony carrier in the world. That’s true collaboration, making the world flatter. And others followed. Everyone chases a good idea.

That being said, the United States is dominated by the iPhone. And for a child, the iPod is an amazing device. Without having to get a cell phone, a kid can iMessage his grandparents and make voice and video calls. As long as it’s iDevice to iDevice, there are no restrictions.

Yet, we recently started to play around with Skype again. It wasn’t because of the multi-platform nature of the service (XBOX, Android, iOS, Windows, and just about any other device). It helped, sure. But I made the switch because of the Skype emoticons. They are incredible.

Here are my top five:

1. Dancing turkey. See the awesomeness for yourself. Play your song of choice. No matter the beat, the dancing turkey nails it.
2. Pixar’s Inside/Out crew. It’s a fantastic movie and a great tool to talk about emotions with young children. Disgust mock-shouting “Duh!” has become a household catch phrase. I get it from my kid a couple of times each day.
3. The Muppets. Go watch Fozzie do the Salmonella bit. I’m glad they brought the gang back on ABC.
4. Minions. It’s hard to top the diabolical laughter. If only the little yellow monsters could shout “banana!” in-line.
5. Ninja sword. What’s cooler than ninjas? Plenty, but I’m a child of the ’80s—this one still gets me.

In any product development, adoption can be pushed with sleek design, usability, and brand image. My kid doesn’t believe Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. He’s pretty sure Steve Jobs did. At least, the Apple founder did give the true inventor of the telephone his due.

“Did Alexander Graham Bell do any market research before he invented the telephone?” -Steve Jobs

Big shifts in technology come around only so often. PC Revolution. Internet. eCommerce. Mobile. Collaboration. But most of the time, it’s the little things that make the difference. So behold the wonders of the dancing turkey. Incremental improvements do matter. The little things can make a big difference, even gimmicky keyboard shortcuts.

References

• Skype still holds the edge on iOS because it taps into the default emoji shortcuts—it feels a little like cheating, but I’ll allow it.¹ If you haven’t downloaded Skype already, it’s easy to find, and alternatives like Google Hangouts are only a tap away.²
• Pixar’s Inside/Out magic comes from the same creative culture Ed Catmull writes about in Creativity, Inc., a book I recommend to anyone chasing better stories.³

Footnotes