Yahoo! Celebrates 25 Years of The 'Emoticon'

[iMav]

The year 2007 marks the 25th anniversary of the emoticon, which was first introduced in 1982 and is now a popular symbol in digital communication.

As the first person to use this form of non-verbal communication, Professor Scott Fahlman of Carnegie Mellon University said, "When I first created the '' text smiley face, I never thought it would take off the way it has. It started as a way to show humor to a community of computer scientists, but now, 25 years later, consumers far and wide have really embraced the emoticon in their non-verbal communication to show emotions like happiness, love and concern, especially while instant messaging. The smiley has come a long way."

To commemorate this milestone, Yahoo! Messenger has announced the Emoticontest, inviting its users to submit their favorite expressions to compete for the next set of emoticons. The winners’ emoticons will be featured on Yahoo! Messenger's service worldwide, in the coming months. To enter Yahoo! Messenger's Emoticontest, users are required to submit a photo of a signature look or favorite expression. The Bix online community will vote on the submissions and determine the next generation of emoticons in Yahoo! Messenger. The contest is running in the U.S., India and Vietnam until July 31, 2007.

As part of the emoticon celebration, Yahoo! conducted a survey of 40,000 Yahoo! Messenger users, to reveal where and how emoticons play a role in everyday communication

Jeff Bonforte, vice president, Yahoo! Messenger said, "For 25 years, the 'smiley 'and his happy parenthetical-powered friends have added a critical layer of expression to our daily online conversations. When you can't hear someone's voice or see their face, emoticons are there to help us express what simple words can't. Nearly 85% of people using Yahoo! Messenger daily rely on emoticons to add color and character to their communication. Our users are the experts and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the emoticon, we are asking Yahoo! Messenger users to create the next generation of smiley faces."

Source

[iamtheone]

hey i know its offtopic but it is "related" to the topic.neone knows where i can get those shiny smileys for ymessenger??i have the latest messenger but still all i have for smileys are those old small faces....i'll really appreciate if comeone can tell me where to find those shiny ones as shown in the above pic also

[alok4best]

go to audibles from Vietnam..u'll find them there..

[Charan]

:- )
: -D
<(^_^)>
(*-*)
(o_O)
(õ_ó)