The Smiley Turns 25 :-)

Twenty-five years ago today, at 11:44 a.m., Carnegie Mellon University Professor Scott E. Fahlman sat down at his computer and added his input to a joke thread on an online bulletin board.

I propose the following character sequence for joke markers:
:-)
Read it sideways.

Thus, the smiley was born.

"[The] convention caught on quickly around Carnegie Mellon, and soon spread to other universities and research labs via the primitive computer networks of the day," Fahlman says on his page of Smiley Lore :-). Within weeks, dozens of smiley variations and other emoticons were born, leading up to the nearly exhaustive list of popular emotional icons in use today.

"It has been fascinating to watch this phenomenon grow from a little message I tossed off in ten minutes to something that has spread all around the world," said the unassuming Falhman about Smiley's 25th birthday. "I sometimes wonder how many millions of people have typed these characters, and how many have turned their heads to one side to view a smiley, in the 25 years since this all started."

For those who are truly interested in the history, you can read the entire "joke" conversation thread from the CMU CS general bb board that led to Scott Fahlman's invention of the smiley. Hard to believe it's been 25 years!

To honor the occasion, Falhman and his colleagues have starting an annual student contest for innovation in online communication. The Smiley Award, sponsored by Yahoo, carries a $500 cash prize.