Free Smiley for Instant Messenger

Finding a free smiley for instant messenger, forum and chat room use can be a great way to bring some fun to your messages and let your personality shine through.

Smileys are the friendly name for emoticons. The word 'emoticon' is a hybrid between 'emotion' and 'icon'. These are the little faces that people use when typing instant messages, using forums or chat rooms and even in email to express a feeling. Traditionally these would have been typed using key board symbols, for instance typing :) to indicate a happy face (turn your head anti-clockwise to see it) or typing :( to indicate an unhappy face.

In recent years the simple typed symbols have been transformed into cartoon like faces and these are used to express emotion. There are many different types of smiley and what started as a simple happy or sad face now has developed into a range of different smileys. In other forms of communication, emotion is indicated through voice tone or through facial expressions.

There is no way of expressing these emotions through the typed word. This results in words being misinterpreted or a person's sentiment misread and therefore quite innocuous comments can become problematic. The inclusion of a happy face or another form of smiley or emoticon helps to show immediately whether a comment is meant as a joke or in a light hearted way and is a great use of netiquette.

While most instant messenger, forum and chat room applications come with a range of different smileys or emoticons, many people like to display their individuality by having something a little different. Luckily this is very simple to do as there are many websites that specialize in creating and designing different emoticons or smileys so that there are several thousand variations to choose from. Many companies provide free smileys for instant messenger, forums,and chat rooms. There are many interesting websites that offer this service. Websites that offer free smileys for instant messenger include:

• Smiley Central – there are a wide range of smileys and emoticons available on this site including smileys designed for use with many of the different instant messenger applications available
• My Smiley – there are many different smileys on this website and these are broken down into categories which makes them easy to browse through.
• FreeSmileys – in addition to a wide range of smileys, this website also offers users the option of customizing their own free smiley.

While smileys and emoticons are a lot of fun and simple to use, there are a few key points that will help ensure a trouble free user experience:

• Before downloading any smileys check that they are compatible with the application with which they are to be used.
• Check the copyright status and any restrictions of use of any smileys that are being downloaded.
• Only download smileys and emoticons from reputable websites.
• Follow the download instructions carefully. Many websites offer a step by step guide to downloading and using their smileys and emoticons.
• If there are problems when downloading smileys check the website's FAQ (frequently asked questions) pages or use the 'contact us' function if available.

Free smileys and emoticons are the perfect way to bring some extra personality and emotion to instant messages, emails and forum posts. With the vast range of different smileys available, there is bound to be one to meet every occasion.

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