What Is Emoticon?

Emojis come in all shapes and sizes, from simple smiley faces to funny images that explain exactly how you feel. The emoticon, the combination of a look and the word "emotion", is one of the oldest forms of digital communication. The first emoticons were created in a simple format that would be recognizable to today's viewers – they were just a collection of text characters meant to portray emotions such as happiness, sadness or anger. These days emoticons are much more sophisticated and often made with computer imaging software rather than plain text characters. However, it wasn't until the advent of computers and the need to quickly convey information in text messaging that emoticons emerged. People started experimenting with various ways to share information with these strange minor glyphs, and it was soon that they were being used regularly. Along with the rise of internet chatting came the need for more complex ways to express emotions in written form, and emoticons were there to fill that need. With the advent of smartphones, emoticons are more popular than ever before. The colon and right-hand parenthesis are typed to create the smiley face emoticon. One can also use other symbols and images to create individualized emoticons to suit their preferences. The use of emoticons in communication has become more widespread with the advent of social media and communication apps, and they are widely accepted as a form of nonverbal communication. The meaning of the smiley face emoticon has also changed over time, and it is one of the most commonly used emoticons today. Whether typed in a text message or posted on a social network, the emoticon conveys the same meaning: I am happy, sad, excited, or just feeling weird about something. The emoticon is perhaps the smallest unit of expression in the vast range of human emotion, but it can be one of the most profound.