The tremendous advancement in technology has brought dramatic
changes in how we communicate with people from distant places. In
the past, we solely depended on communicating through telephones
but today other media are available that are more convenient and
cheaper to use. They are even more innovative as they allow
real-time viewing of the person you are talking to. One of the best
examples of these media is Skype. It is an internet-based program
which allows instant messaging and video conferencing for a very
minimum fee or for free. In addition, it also offers the use of
emoticons and smileys which can make your conversation become more
alive.
Emoticons and Smileys Emoticons and smileys
are almost synonymous with each other in terms of what they do:
express ones emotions without the use of words either spoken or
written. However, their technical difference is that a smiley
conveys facial expressions and gestures through the use of keyboard
characters while an emoticon is a smiley that utilizes a graphical
image instead of keyboard characters. Skype integrated these
emoticons and smileys features to enable its users to express what
they feel in various ways. They can add life to informal
conversations between friends, lovers, and family as these cute
icons will allow you to tell what is on your mind without the use
of words, whether you are happy, angry or sad. Emoticons and
smileys are comparable with a person's facial expressions that
would tell a lot of what he/she feels and thinks. They have become
essential aspects of chatting or even in sending emails. Probably
the reason behind this is the fact that majority of human
communication is non-verbal.
Skype
Emoticons List If you want to start using emoticon
features, you will be amazed how you can easily learn their proper
usage. You only have to click the smiley or emoticon button found
just above the instant message box and a wide selection of icons
will pop-up, select which one you want to use. Alternatively, you
can simply type in a group of characters found on your keyboard for
a specific emoticon. The latter option is more difficult if you are
a beginner as you have to memorize the characters as well as their
proper sequence. Some of the most commonly used emoticons as well
as their keyboard characters are as follows: "
Smile :-) " Devil (devil) "
Finger --!-- " Head d:-) "
Happy : D " Angel O:-)
Secret Skype
Emoticons Aside from the animated icons you will see when
you click the emoticons button, there are also others that cannot
be found there and they are called hidden or secret Skype
emoticons. Most of them are newly developed ones and they will soon
be added to the emoticons menu. If you want to know what these
additional icons are, simply do an online search. To use them, just
copy and paste a set of characters or perhaps memorize and type
them on the message box. Most hidden icons utilize words instead of
symbols such as these - (finger) for finger, (bandit) for bandit,
(bear) for bear, (headbang) for head bang, (poolparty) for pool
party, and (flag: two-alphabet code of a country), e.g. (flag:PH)
for flags. These charming emoticons will surely liven up your
conversation without putting out much effort. More innovations are
coming out in the future and most of them are intended to make our
lives easier just as Skype did in connecting people from all
over the world. Do not shy away from what technology can offer,
make good use of it. So next time you chat with someone on Skype,
try using these charming emoticons and see how they change your
chat experience.
Skype Emoticons
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