Microsoft brings Disney and Pixar to Skype with 'Inside Out' emoticons
Human communication is very tricky. Words on their own are not enough to properly convey a message. Our tone and body language can speak volumes -- sometimes more than the literal meaning of our words. This can be dangerous when sending an email or text message, as the recipient can easily misinterpret the senders intentions.
Luckily, emoticons and emojis have enabled us to enhance our text-based communications. While some people decry millennials' use of these enhancements, they are seemingly here to stay. Today, Microsoft announces that it is delivering new emoticons to Skype that are based on Disney and Pixar's animated film "Inside Out". Since the characters in the movie are based on emotions, it is actually a brilliant partnership.
"We know that you adore our emoticons and are always asking for more. Well, we are listening and today we are excited to share that we are bringing the Emotions from the latest Disney/Pixar movie Inside Out as emoticons to you. Now on Skype, you can chat with your family and friends and surprise them with these expressive Emotions for next three months", says the Skype Team.
The team further says, "all of us are guided by these Emotions of Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness in our daily lives. So whether you are feeling excited and on top of the world or having a bad day and getting frustrated at someone, these new emoticons will help express how you are feeling".
The Skype Team explains the bio of each character/emoticon.
Joy is light-hearted, optimistic and determined to find the fun in every situation. Joy sees challenges in life as opportunities, and less happy moments as hiccups on the way back to something great.
Disgust is highly opinionated and extremely honest. Disgust always has the best of intentions and refuses to lower her standards.
Fear is constantly on the lookout for potential disasters, and spends time evaluating the possible dangers, pitfalls and risk involved in everyday activities. There are very few activities and events that Fear does not find to be dangerous.
Anger has a fiery spirit and tends to explode (literally) when things don’t go as planned. He is quick to overreact and has little patience for life’s imperfections.
Sadness finds it so hard to be positive. Sometimes it seems like the best thing to do is just lie on the floor and have a good cry.
Whether or not you are a Disney fan you must admit that these emoticons are very cute. More importantly, however, they do a good job of communicating the intended emotion. In other words, they are not form over function as a simple movie promotion -- they are very useful.
With which character do you most identify? Tell me in the comments.