In written forms of communication, smileys or emoticons are used to portray the mood of the message. To make the smiley faces, colons or semicolons are used for the eyes and various letters are used for the mouth to display the emotion. For instance a smiley face with a wink and a smile is a semicolon with a closing parenthesis. Example ; ) For a frown a colon with a left hand parentheses. Example : ( . A big smile is a colon with a capital D. Example : D

The difference between emoticons and smileys is that emoticons are not made of text symbols but are instead little pictures that express emotions. You can find them at smiley Central.

These symbolic expressions have risen to prominence thanks to rise of text messaging, not just on cell phones, but also through instant messaging or message board posts. The key requirement for the acceptance of smileys is that the form of communication is written and informal.

With the increasing use of the internet and wireless digital telecommunications, the adoption of the smileys has taken prominence. This movement was initiated by the youth and there is probably not a young person out there who does not know the meaning or usage of smileys.

The expressions have evolved quiet a bit since the early development of these symbols. At first they only expressed happiness or sadness, but now they can express nuanced emotions like disbelief, anger, playfulness and surprise.

Females use the emoticons much more often than males. This may be due to feeling more comfortable in expressing emotions or they may be more versed in using telecommunication nuance techniques.

Some have criticized the use of these symbols as detrimental to the depth of human communication, but these don’t address the obvious benefits of use. These benefits include faster communication, the allowance of intimate text messages with little effort.

The future of these symbols seems to have plateaued. All expressions possible using text characters seem to have been used up. Emoticons can display a wider range of emotions since they are not limited. The future of more nuanced symbols lies within message forums since their text messages are often longer and more detailed, thus requiring a wider range of symbols.