Not everyone sees :-) the same way as you

Twenty five years ago, Scott Fahlman thought it would only be appropriate to include a sideways smiley face made up of a colon, a hyphen and a parenthesis (The Media Report 2007). The rest is history.

Since then, there have been hundreds and maybe thousands of new emoticons used in emails, text messages, and especially instant messaging services, with its usage gaining popularity in the last 10 years.

Sample of the many emoticons available for instant messaging use.
(Source: Sherv.net)

Most people assume that everyone who has a computer would know how to interpret emoticons but there are differences in interpreting emoticons. In an Ars Technica article (Timmer 2007), studies show that facial expressions can be interpreted accurately by all human cultures but when interpreting emoticons, there are slight differences.

Typical 'Japanese' emoticons
(Source: Manga Candy)

In his article, Timmer (2007) compares the smiley uses in Japan and USA. In Japanese culture, subdued emotional expressions are considered polite and emphasis is put on the eyes rather than the mouth. In America, people are not shy in expressing themselves so they concentrate on mouths when expressing. Basically, the Japanese prefer ^-^ while the Americans prefer :D.

Kress and van Leeuwen (1998) states that certain cultures provide training for reading and viewing. Above is an example of Japanese emoticons. They are called that because those symbols are often used to express 'Anime' characters. Someone who has not been exposed to 'Anime' would not know what these symbols mean.

A common problem emoticon users suffer from is excessive usage of emoticons in instant messaging. The picture below is an example of what I am talking about.

(Source: KMess)

I can identify that the conversation is about inviting someone to a party but I do not think the emoticons used helped me understand the chatters' feelings. Schirato and Yell (1996) defines intertextuality as the process of comprehending texts in reference to their relations with other texts. They mention that all texts carry elements, or traces, of context with them. I tried to relate this theory in understanding the above text , I failed.

Emoticons were thought to help users express themselves better but over-excessive and improper use can confuse people.Next time you say to hi to someone on MSN, do not greet them with multi-coloured texts and pictures of fat, yellow smilies waving towards the screen.

References:
Kress, G & van Leeuwen 1998, 'Front Pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout' in Approaches to Media Discourse, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 186-219.

Schirato, T and Yell, S 1996, ‘Chapter 5: Framing contexts’ in Communication and cultural literacy: An introduction, Allen and Unwin, New South Wales.

The Media Report 2007, 'Emoticons and email etiquette', audio recording, ABC Radio National, 18 October, viewed 7 Novemober 2008, [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2064342.htm].

Timmer, J 2007, 'Emotions carry cultural baggage' in Ars Technica, viewed 7 November 2008, [http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070514-emoticons-carry-cultural-baggage.html].