The modern workplace isn’t solely face-to-face anymore, it’s a dynamic mix of in-person collaboration and remote work where your bedroom and in-office conference room share equal importance.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online platforms, especially video conferencing ones, have taken several steps to create what can only be described as ‘engagement parity’ with the real world. Google Meet is one of them, with several new features rolled out, primarily with the intention of making the platform more interactive. This includes, but isn’t limited to, features like breakout rooms, hand raising, polls, Jamboards, and more.
One facet of the platform’s online communication feature set, however, has remained severely limited. I’m talking about reactions on Google Meet, which, up until now, has been limited to only nine reaction emojis. These are:
- Heart with sparkles 💖
- Thumbs up 👍
- Confetti 🎉
- Clap 👏
- Laughing 😂
- Face with open mouth 😮
- Crying 😢
- Thinking face 🤔
- Thumbs down 👎🏻
The only real customization users had comes in the form of the emojis’ skin tone, though that is set to change now. The tech giant is finally rolling out more reaction emojis.
Expect the full emoji stack
We’re not talking about one or two new emojis. The tech giant is bringing the full stack. All emojis (I’m presuming the full Unicode set as of v17.0) are rolling out now, and will be available by default to all Google Workspace Business Standard and Plus and Enterprise Standard and Plus users.
It’s worth noting that those using Meet Rooms hardware will not have the extended reaction emoji list, but they will be able to receive and display reactions (from the extended list) when they’re sent by other users. The same goes for live stream viewers.
Expect the functionality to land widely on the web and Android devices around the second week of December. iOS support will be “added at a later point in time.”
