While most of our social media messages should use plain ‘ol regular text, so that the focus is on what we’re saying, sometimes it’s fun, and even fruitful, to use Special Characters. These are specific symbols that have greater meaning than just a letter or dash.
For instance, when sharing a post about my eBook on Epic Content, instead of just dashes or bullets to emphasize the major topics covered, I used a hand holding a pencil — writing — to add visual interest to the post.
All of these characters work perfectly on Google+ — just copy & paste whichever one you want to use. And do remember that on Google+, you can add *bold*, _italics_ and -strikethrough- to your posts, along with whitespace and links. These symbols may also work on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, though I have not tested every one. Grab a few and give ’em a try!
Most Common
☞ ⇨ ➽ ☺ ☹ ❤ ✔ ✘ ☆ ★ ™ © ® •
Smilies:
☺ ☹ ☻ ت ツ ッ シ ヅ Ü ϡ ﭢ
Danger and safety:
☢ ☣ ☠ ☮ ☯
Music:
♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ ♭ ♮ ♯ ° ø
Weather:
☼ ☀ ❂ ☁ ☂ ☃ ☄ ☾ ☽ ❄ ☇ ☈ ⊙ ☉ ℃ ℉ ° ❅ ✺ ϟ
Writing:
✉ ✍ ✎ ✏ ✐✑✒ ✁ ✂ ✃ ✄
Checks and X’s:
☑ ✓ ✔ √ ☐ ☒ ☓ ✕ ✖ ✗ ✘ ✇
Business symbols:
$ ₣ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ฿ ₠ ₡ ₢ ₣ ₤ ₥ ₦ ₧ ₨ ₩ ₫ ₪ €
＄ ￠ ﹩ ￡ ￥ ￦ ™ ℠ © ® ℗
Arrows:
▲ ◣ ◢ ◥ ▼ △ ▽ ⊿ ◤ ◥ △ ▴ ▵ ▶ ▷ ▸ ▹ ► ▻ ▼ ▽ ▾ ▿ ◀ ◁ ◂ ◃ ◄ ◅
➟ ➡ ➢ ➣ ➤ ➥ ➦ ➧ ➨ ➚ ➘ ➙ ➛ ➜ ➝ ➞ ➸ ♐ ➲ ➳ ➳ ➴ ➵ ➶ ➷ ➸ ➹ ➺ ➻ ➼ ➽ ← ↑ → ↓ ↔ ↕ ↖ ↗ ↘ ↙ ↚ ↛ ↜ ↝ ↞ ↟ ↠ ↡ ↢ ↣ ↤ ↥ ↦ ↧ ↨ ➫ ➬ ➩ ➪ ➭ ➮ ➯ ➱ ↩ ↪ ↫ ↬ ↭ ↮ ↯ ↰ ↱ ↲ ↳ ↴ ↵ ↶ ↷ ↸ ↹ ↺ ↻ ↼ ↽ ↾ ↿ ⇀ ⇁ ⇂ ⇃ ⇄ ⇅ ⇆ ⇇ ⇈ ⇉ ⇊ ⇋ ⇌ ⇍ ⇎ ⇏ ⇐ ⇑ ⇒ ⇓ ⇔ ⇕ ⇖ ⇗ ⇘ ⇙ ⇚ ⇛ ⇜ ⇝ ⇞ ⇟ ⇠ ⇡ ⇢ ⇣
⇤ ⇥ ⇦ ⇧ ⇨ ⇩ ⇪
Circled letters:
Ⓐ Ⓑ Ⓒ Ⓓ Ⓔ Ⓕ Ⓖ Ⓗ Ⓘ Ⓙ Ⓚ Ⓛ Ⓜ Ⓝ Ⓞ Ⓟ Ⓠ Ⓡ Ⓢ Ⓣ Ⓤ Ⓥ Ⓦ Ⓧ Ⓨ Ⓩ
ⓐ ⓑ ⓒ ⓓ ⓔ ⓕ ⓖ ⓗ ⓘ ⓙ ⓚ ⓛ ⓜ ⓝ ⓞ ⓟ ⓠ ⓡ ⓢ ⓣ ⓤ ⓥ ⓦ ⓧ ⓨ ⓩ
Circled numbers:
➀ ➁ ➂ ➃ ➄ ➅ ➆ ➇ ➈ ➉
➊ ➋ ➌ ➍ ➎ ➏ ➐ ➑ ➒ ➓
Fractions:
⅟ ½ ⅓ ¾ ⅔ ⅕ ⅖ ⅗ ⅘ ⅙ ⅚ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞ % ℅ ‰ ‱
Math:
≂ ≃ ≄ ≅ ≆ ≇ ≈ ≉ ≊ ≋ ≌ ≍ ≎ ≏ ≐ ≑ ≒ ≓ ≔ ≕ ≖ ≗ ≘ ≙ ≚ ≛ ≜ ≝ ≞ ≟ ≠ ≡ ≢ ≣ ≤ ≥ ≦ ≧ ≨ ≩ ⊰ ⊱ ⋛ ⋚ ∫ ∬ ∭ ∮ ∯ ∰ ∱ ∲ ∳
Sub- and super-script:
⁰ ² ⁱ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ ⁺ ⁻ ⁼ ⁽ ⁾ ⁿ ₀ ₁ ₂ ₃ ₄ ₅ ₆ ₇ ₈ ₉ ₊ ₋ ₌ ₍ ₎
Circles:
❂ ○ ◎ ● ◯ ◕ ◔ ◐ ◑ ☢ ⊗ ⊙ ◘ ◙ ◍
Roman numerals:
Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ Ⅴ Ⅵ Ⅶ Ⅷ Ⅸ Ⅹ Ⅺ Ⅻ Ⅼ Ⅽ Ⅾ Ⅿ ⅰ ⅱ ⅲ ⅳ ⅴ ⅵ ⅶ ⅷ ⅸ ⅹ ⅺ ⅻ ⅼ ⅽ ⅾ ⅿ
Chess pieces:
♚ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟
♔ ♕ ♖ ♗ ♘ ♙
Card suits:
♦ ♠ ♥ ♣
♢ ♤ ♡ ♧
Hands:
☚ ☛ ☜ ☝ ☞ ☟ ✌
Stars:
❂ ⋆ ✢ ✣ ✤ ✥ ✦ ✧ ✩ ✪ ✫ ✬ ✭ ✮ ✯ ✰ ★ ✱ ✲ ✳ ✴ ✵ ✶ ✷ ✸ ✹ ✺ ✻ ✼ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❇ ❈ ๑
Religious:
✡ ☩ ☨ ☦ ✙ ✚ ✛ ✜ ✝ ✞ ✠ ☪ ☥ ☩ ♆ 卐
Political:
Ⓐ ☭
Oriental:
㊊㊐㊋㊌㊍㊎㊏㊐㊑㊒㊓㊔㊕㊖㊗㊀㊁㊂㊃㊄㊅㊆㊇㊈㊉
Hearts:
♥ ღ ۵
Sex and gender:
♋ ♂ ♀ ♁ ☿ 웃 유 ☌
Flowers:
✽ ✾ ✿ ❀ ❁ ❃ ❋
Phones:
✆ ☎ ☏
Quotes:
❝❞ «» ‶ ‷‴ ‹ › ‸ ^ ′ ″ ‵ ‘ ’ ‚ ‛ “ ” „ ‟
Punctuation:
❢ ❣ ⁇ ⁈ ⁉ ‼ ‽ ！ ! ؟
Planets and an ex-planet:
☉ Sun
☽ ☾ ● ◯ Moon
☿ Mercury
♀ Venus
⊕ ♁ Earth
♂ Mars
♃ Jupiter
♄ Saturn
♅ Uranus
♆ Neptune
♇ Pluto
☄ Comet
Zodiac:
♈ – Aries
♉ – Taurus
♊ – Gemini
♋ – Cancer
♌ – Leo
♍ – Virgo
♎ – Libra
♏ – Scorpio
♐ – Sagittarius
♑ – Capricorn
♒ – Aquarius
♓ – Pisces
Assorted:
▓
▒
░
╥
╪
█
╠╛
█
▀
۞
№
ﺁ ﷲ
(-’๏_๏’-)
(◐ o ◑ )
(⊙…⊙ )
(•ิ_•ิ)
(•ิ_•ิ\)
๏[-ิ_•ิ]๏
(/•ิ_•ิ)
(¯`•¸•´¯)
εїз
ღღღ
Credit to the anonymous owner of a Google Doc for organizing these.
As you can see, these symbols also work fine within blog posts. If there are some I missed, just let me know in the comments. Happy Posting!
BONUS TIP! Compliments of Stephanie Calahan: Take symbols that you like to use often and add them as keyboard shortcuts on your smart phone, like “chk” for “✔”.