A method of conveying emotional tone and intention, either online or in text messages, using characters or small images. It began by using simple punctuation, e.g. the classic ‘smiley’ :-) but has evolved to include many different formats of small pictures, often called ‘emoticon’.

A method of conveying emotional tone and intention, either online or in text messages, using characters or small images. It began by using simple punctuation, e.g. the classic ‘smiley’ :-) but has evolved to include many different formats of small pictures, often called ‘emoji’.