by 
The Curious Bag
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It is difficult to convey emotion on a computer screen. An emoticon (an emotion icon) conveys human emotion by using a series of symbols and letters to create a "face." A smiley :-) is one of the most popular emoticons. Emoticons are best viewed sideways.
History
Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott Fahlman first used a smiley emoticon in September 1982. He used a smiley so his colleagues could identify humor in his emails.
Variety
Emoticons began by being mimics for the human face. Dr. Fahlman began using a few like the smiley or a frown :-(. More than twenty years later, there are entire websites devoted to emoticon dictionaries.
Marketing
In 2007, a smiley with mustache became part of the dairy industry's Got Milk campaign as an attempt to reach a teen audience.
Universal
Emoticons are so universally used, you can find emoticons in many languages. Japanese smileys are read vertically and look like (^_^).
Future
Text-based emotional icons are graduating to cartoons and avatars. Popular software programs like Word automatically change :-) to a smile symbol.
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