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You see them advertised on blog pages and other websites that promote socialization, free smileys. They’re cute, and a fun addition to your correspondence. But, did you ever wonder where they came from? The original smiley face of just a circle with two eyes and a smile was created decades ago and became a symbol for happiness. |
You may have seen this one on your grade school papers when you did a good job or stickers that you put on your lunchbox. But they continued to find new life.
When the online world started to become a place the masses could go to communicate the smiley made a move to this medium as well.
Free smileys hit the online world back in September of 1982. Back then the smiley was a simple item. There was only one of them and it was made of three characters :-). Since it was the first of it’s kind, the smiley was cute and people liked it, but it wasn’t as big as it was going to become.
Over time the smiley kept going through growth spurts. Some of those smiley growth spurts included making them more than a traditional smiley face. Instead they were being used to give off more than just a general happy impression. By changing the accenting characters the smileys expanded to include those who are laughing, winking, and even some that had no smiles, but instead frowns and angry appearances.
That kept people happy for quite a while, being able to put a number of free smileys, showing a variety of expressions, in their emails and text messages.
Eventually there was another growth spurt in the world of smileys and they became more than just that yellow smiley face with an expression. Some took on new personalities of colored smiley faces, those that looked like animals, or even themed toward particular holidays and events.
But even that become old hat after a while and something new had to come about. This is when animated smileys came into being. These were not only colorful and creative looking smiley faces, but they also had a little action to back up their expressions. Whether they were winking smileys where the eyes really winked or those who change their expression to have shocked looks or laugh out loud, they were smileys in motion and became very popular.
Smiley emoticons became especially popular in the world of blogging. Many people report on their daily trials and triumphs through online journals. In these journals, animated emoticons can be added to the text to back up thoughts and feelings with an active and colorful display.
With the constant evolution of smileys, there is no doubt that in a few more years, there will be another step to take those well-loved smileys to a new and even more creative level.
Anyone who does any online communicating likely can’t imagine having a world without free smileys, and can’t wait to see what the next evolution of these loveable guys will be.
