IM Basics
How do you get started? The best way is to find a few friends already using IM, and install the same IM software they are already using. To make it easy for you, we've created a step-by-step guide to selecting and setting up your first instant messenger.
Instant Messaging: Reference
All About Emoticons
What are Emoticons or "Smileys?"
Emoticons (called "smileys" by some programs) are a combination of symbols to form an icon that helps express emotion. For example, when you string together a colon, a hyphen and a right-parenthesis, you're expressing a smile. If you look at it sideways, it even looks like a smile! :-)
Why use Emoticons?
Instant messaging and chat are very informal methods of communicating, and it is common to use acronyms, abbreviations and emoticons to help keep the conversation flowing smoothly.
Of course, one of the biggest obstacles in communication by written language alone is that you don't have the benefit of hearing the tone of the other person's voice, or seeing their body language. Those aural and visual cues help you discern between sincerity and sarcasm; humor and anger. Emoticons give you a way to add those "cues" back into the conversation.
Some instant messaging and chat programs will convert your emoticons into a graphic that makes the emotion even more clear. The following table shows some of the more commonly used emoticons, how you type them, and what they look like in the most popular instant messaging programs.
Emoticons Quick Reference
Text Description AOL/ICQ1 MSN 6+ MSN 4.7 Yahoo 6 :-) Smiling :-( Frowning ;-) Winking :-P Sticking-out-tongue =-O Surprised :-* Kissing >:o Yelling 8-) Cool :-$ Money-mouth :-! Foot-in-mouth :-[ Embarrassed O:-) Innocent :-\ Undecided :'( Crying :-X Lips-are-sealed :-D Laughing 1 - Smileys available in ICQ 2001b, but can only be picked from a pop-up menu.
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