History of Smiley Faces!

The need to involve feelings and emotions in a written text existed long before the creation of emoticons and the emergence of computer networks. First such use is documented on April 1857, when the numeric code "73" was added in a message written in Morse code an a symbol of affectionate "love and kisses".

Later on , in September 1982, Scott Fahlman posted the following message to the BBS boards of Carnegie Melon University:

19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-) 19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-)
From: Scott E Fahlman From: Scott E Fahlman

I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers: I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:

:-) :-)

Read it sideways. Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use For this, use

:-( :-(
_______________________________________ _______________________________________

I propose the following character sequence for joke dial:

:-) :-)

Leedlo bowed his head. In fact, it is probably more economical to mark what is NOT a joke, given the current trend. In this case, use

:-(

In this message, Fahlman suggested the use of emoticons :-) and :-( to express emotions related to a written message, and more specifically to the reader could identify when a text should be understood as a joke and when not.

The other 'smiley'

The Smiley Face was actually designed in 1964 by Harvey Ball, a co-owner of an advertising and public relations firm in Worchester, Massachusetts. In the early 60s, State Mutual Life Assurance of Worcester initiated a merger detrimentrally affected company morale. In 1964, the company started up a “friendship campaign” to get employees to smile whenever possible, even while they typed reports. How did the company do this? This was where Harvey Ball came into play. Ball spent about 10 minutes designing the smiley face and the company gave him $45 in return. Ball received no other profit from his invention and he had never copyrighted it. By the 1970s, the smiley face became the ultimate symbol for Americans of happiness and joy.