As much as some of us wish otherwise, meeting people and making connections is the norm for living as a happy and social individual. The number of people we meet and continue to stay in touch with is a subjective mystery to each, but the base remains the same.
First impressions are powerful. When we physically meet someone for the first time or engage in conversation, it’s important to decide if we want that conversation to last. And all of us make that decision faster than we think. If not judging the book, we’re at least great at judging if we want to read it in the first place. All by the cover.
Online communication is a saving grace in the present times. With the pandemic burning at one level, virtual interaction is the only thing keeping our sanity in one piece. We continue to have human contact and with much lesser risk. We seem to be stuck in a strange loop of grief and gratitude right now. It’s funny how strong they are together.
When so much is going on in the online world, it’s important to understand how impactful first impressions can be in such the “virtual reality” too. So, if you’re “meeting” someone for the first time, texting an old friend for the first time in ages, or even having a formal conversation in an informal setup, these emojis are here to help you say Hi! better.
👋 Waving Hand Emoji
Waving at someone is the classic way of rubbing a mighty HELLO onto them. But, 👋 does not work the same way in all contexts. While 👋 is the perfect way to send a greeting on an informal group chat, it’s not the wisest option for a formal platform.
So, 👋 is best for class groups, “close colleagues” group chats, personal chats with people younger or of the same age, and impersonal posts that are mostly reaching people of the same wavelength as you.
🤝 Handshake Emoji
Most actions symbolized as emojis don’t always convey the same message virtually as they would in reality. 🤝 is the appropriate way to seal off anything formal in reality; a physical business meeting, a formal conversation, or any scenario with mutual reciprocity.
However, 🤝 works slightly different online.
Though you could use 🤝 to end a formal conversation, it doesn’t exactly express a formal response. Tricky. Emojis are typically restricted in a formal situation. So, 🤝 wouldn’t be formalizing the occasion, and would instead have an inverse effect. Of informality.
Which brings us to the question, who the heck am I going to be greeting with 🤝? You could use this emoji with anybody, except those who have a say in your paycheck, future paychecks, or possible paychecks. Besides that, it’s all good.
😊 Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes Emoji
First impressions largely depend on your personality, and only secondarily does it come down to the gestures. The warmer you are, the better people are said to like you. Though there are some who like it cold.
If you’re unsure of the apt hand emojis while greeting someone, use 😊. You can never go wrong with it. This emoji works best with acquaintances, people older than you, and in informal chats with people in formal positions (like a boss).
😁 Beaming Face With Smiling Eyes Emoji
You see that extra streak of enthusiasm in this emoji? That streak interprets interest. 😁 is the ideal emoji while greeting someone familiar and relatively closer. It could be a close friend, family member, colleague, etc.
Besides offering a welcoming ‘hello’ to someone you’ve known for a very long time, you can also use 😁 while personally extending the same enthusiasm this emoji carries. Irrespective of how well you know the person.
- Heyyyy! Long time! 😁 (with someone familiar)
- Hey! How’s it going! 😁 (with someone you saw at the mall)
Same emotion, only received and expressed differently, with two different premises.
😄 Grinning Face With Smiling Eyes Emoji
😄 is the same as the previous, except with 50 percent of the excitement. 😄 doesn’t showcase a raw sense of eagerness. It offers a thin but opaque layer of warmth and general kindness, instead of plain enthusiasm.
😄 is the kind of a “smiling Hi” you’d give someone who’s generally been warm to you. It could also be directed towards someone you have an influence over. You’re being nice, but not vulnerably enthu either.
- Hello, son 😄 How was the weekend?
😘 Face Blowing a Kiss Emoji
We know the people we’d greet with a kiss. 😘 is an intimate and exclusive form of greeting, saved for the “special ones”. It could be your spouse, someone you’re dating, or even a friend/family member who’s in the super close circle. Yet 3 circles away from my heart.
🖐 Hand With Fingers Splayed Emoji
As the “wet fish handshake” is to a business interaction so is the 🖐 to direct messages. It’s the flimsiest. Greeting someone with a loosely held out palm that’s not waving, not only shows the dire lack of interest but also the painful obligation. Ugh. Now I have to say hi.
Still. We know people who’ve earned this kind of greeting.
- Oh, hey man 🖐 Nothing much.
✋ Raised Hand Emoji
The kind of expression shared by ✋ is not very different from the previous emoji. It’s almost the same. The disinterest in 🖐 is “put together” in ✋. Raising one’s hand while greeting without splayed fingers shows care and respect for the connection alongside evident and healthy distance from the person.
🤗 Hugging Face Emoji
This emoji adds to the “physical” ways of greeting someone virtually. Ironic, yeah. But, we gotta stretch out every option to keep going despite adversity!
We all have people we’d greet with a hug, if not with a kiss. It’s even a formal mode of acknowledgment and greeting in some cultures and religions too.
However, not with a face that hugs.
🤗 is the concise version of a physical hug. It has the hands, the facial expression, just misses the body. For that, we have the 🫂 People Hugging emoji! And if you’re not a “silhouette person”, then here’s an alternative to the hugging face, the 🐥 Front-Facing Baby Chick.
Remember, it all depends on the kind of relationship you have with the person you’re texting.
🖖 Vulcan Salute Emoji
This section is not particular about Star Wars, though it literally has the 🖖 in it. Here, we focus on personalized ways of greeting. Most relationships either burn out real quick or they take a while but eventually burn out sooner or later. And then there are exceptions.
This form of greeting is for the exceptions.
As that togetherness grows, there are certain quirks that come with it. If the two of you are die-hard Star Wars fans, then 🖖 can be your way of saying hi.
If y’all swear by rock and roll, then, the 🤘 Sign of the Horns could be your style. Each “personalized” greeting would have its own “inside meaning” and these are just the general ones.
Other such options are the 🤙 Call Me/Shaka Hand, the 🤟 Love You Gesture, the 👊 Oncoming Fist, the ✊ Raised Fist, the 🤛 Left Facing Fist, and the 🤜 Right Facing Fist.
First impressions are very important to most of us, and not so much to some of us. Nonetheless, both extremes start from the bottom. They all begin with a hello. So, when you’re at the initial stage of “making contact” online, we hope these hello emojis help make a better impression.