Skype Emoticons – What are They and Where Can I Get Them
Posted by Arnold | Under Skype Wednesday Feb 9, 2011
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.