When meeting someone in person, body language experts say that smiling can portray confidence and warmth. Online, however, smiley faces could be doing some serious damage to your career.

In a new study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers found that using smiley faces makes you look incompetent.

The study, written by Ella Glikson, Arik Cheshin and Gerben A. van Kleef says, "contrary to actual smiles, smileys do not increase perceptions of warmth and actually decrease perceptions of competence."

This can have devastating consequences for your career. The report explains, "Perceptions of low competence, in turn, undermined information sharing."

Chances are, if you are including a smiley face in an email, the last thing you want is for your co-workers to think that you are so inadequate that they chose not to share information with you.