Has Highland Council ruined Emoji?

Council gets 'Emojional': fun or fail?

Published 28th Feb 2017
Last updated 1st Mar 2017

Has Highland Council taken all of the fun out of using Emoji?

The cash-strapped council's Digital Services has gone to the trouble of creating shortcuts to the most visited webpages of its website, to allow you to search for them using 😴*

*we saved ourselves 1-second by using that Emoji instead of typing five-letters.

“Emoji are usually associated with fun, there is a serious message” DARREN MACLEOD, HIGHLAND COUNCIL

You can now use your smart phone to search for the online pages, using the main address of Highland Council's website - www.highland.gov.uk/ - and then adding a facial expression, common object, place, type of weather, or animal.

Here's the fun part of it all...The Council's Digital Services Team is adding new Emoji links all the time, so if there's any you'd like added (be nice), you can let them know by Tweeting @HighlandCouncil.

The project could be a huge success, or it could be taken as seriously by the public as the vote to name the UK's new polar research ship.

An overwhelming majority were keen on 'Boaty McBoatface' but officials decided that RRS Sir David Attenborough would be more exciting. 🤔

BELOW: You're getting 'Emojional' about this on social media...

MFR News has had a go at coming up with some suggestions for local authority webpages which could be accessed using these Emoji shortcuts...

  • PARKING FINES...
  • LOCAL DEMOCRACY...
  • COUNCILLORS' PAY...
  • INFORMATION/FACTS ABOUT THE NEW MORRISON CONSTRUCTION-BUILT SCHOOLS...
  • BROWN BIN CHARGES...
  • THE FAILED TILTING PIER PROJECT, SOON TO BE REPLACED WITH AN ALTERNATIVE...
  • COUNCIL BUDGET...
  • COUNCIL CUTS...

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Vote in our poll:

Highland Council's Digital Services Manager, Darren MacLeod told MFR News: "Although Emoji are usually associated with fun, there is a serious message, with the use of Emoji becoming more popular.

"For example where our web users have literacy challenges or perhaps English is not their first language Emoji have become a universal symbol for conveying a feeling or an idea and can help navigating to relevant website pages.

"Also, in a mobile environment or small screen, it helps to be able to add an Emoji rather than type a long address."