27 September 2012
Web Domains have been around for a long time, dating back to around 1985. While many know of the major web domains such as "google.com", "facebook.com", etc. many may not know about the various other domains with endings such as ". doctor", ".financial", and ".school". Major companies such as Google, Amazon, and Allstate have been placing bids on domains of their niche recently. This is very important, as the internet is currently a $1.5 trillion dollar industry and is expected to reach $4 trillion dollars by the year 2020. Also, the average cost of a premium domain name is $20,000. Ok, "so what" you may ask, "how will this affect me." Well, there is a company out there that might very well affect your internet experience.
Not many people have heard of the small investment group known as "Donuts Inc." This company recently placed a bid of $57 million dollars on various domain names. This more money than some of the largest companies in the World! This may affect internet users because according to the Washington Post "The number of what are called “top-level domains” is set to expand from the current 22, including “.com” and “.org,” to potentially more than 1,400 next year." With over 2.1 Billion internet users worldwide, this could have a huge affect to internet users, including yourself!
Travis MillerAbout the author
Travis Miller is a young entrepreneur interested in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Social Media, and all sorts of other stuff. He is the creator of the Technology news blog, "Techazoid".27 September 2012 1
26 September 2012
SEO or PPC: Which is best?
Here is a short article discussing the main differences between search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. I will apologies in advance to all the Internet gurus out there who are well aware of what SEO and PPC are. This article is however aimed at the beginner who needs to get a basic overview of the two. First of all, the search engines are pretty much the same whether you are using Bing, Yahoo or Google, it does not really matter.
Above is a screenshot of a Google search results page and the keyword that I have entered is that of Internet Marketing. You can type this query into any of the search engines and you will perhaps see very different results or some results that are quite similar. So going back to looking at the screenshot you will be able to see the words ‘ads related to internet marketing’. These results appear at the very top of the page or on the right, and this is similar across all the search engines.
These ‘ads’ are what is known as pay-per-click advertising. This means that a company has taken the time to create an advert to promote their product or service to appear in the search results depending on the query that has been entered. One of the great things about PPC especially when it comes to the Google model is that it is not a bidding war. Yes you do have to specify how much you are prepared to pay each time that your advertisement is clicked. But if you write an effective ad and are getting lots of clicks, you could actually rank higher than someone who is actually paying more for each click. The key to the Google PPC model is relevance, and if your ad is getting lots of clicks, then you are seen to be very highly relevant.
Otherwise you do not want to bid too low otherwise you will never actually appear on the first page and given that most people do not go beyond page one, then it is clear where you advert needs to be. As well as the PPC ads on the results page we also have the natural listings and to many, getting their website listed here for a popular search term is really a dream come true. What is interesting about the natural listings is that more people will click on these compared to the PPC results. If you are able to rank number one on page one for a competitive key phrase then you can be assured that you will receive a great deal of traffic to your website.
The natural listings do not incur any cost when they are clicked. But there is a cost of getting your website listed in that particular position. The cost will compromise that of time to optimise your website and to generate content for your offsite activities and if you are to outsource this to an SEO Oldham agency, then they will clearly charge for their services. This charge can be an initial set-up fee plus an ongoing monthly fee, but make sure what the exact charges are and also know what you are paying for. This really is the basis of the difference between SEO and PPC. But whilst waiting for natural listings to appear and to take effect you should utilise a PPC strategy which you will be able to turn off when your Google listings mature.
Sadhiv MahandruAbout the author
Sadhiv Mahandru has been developing websites and optimising them for over a decade. You can learn more about developing an effective SEO strategy as well as visiting my frequently updated blog.26 September 2012 0
23 September 2012
As a Los Angeles search engine optimization professional, you very well know how important great content is to effective SEO. Traffic pours in easily after linking great content on your site. What isn’t so easy, however, is getting that great content in the first place.
The question of where to find great freelance writers comes up frequently in Los Angeles SEO circles. If you’re asking yourself where and how to find some of the best freelancers your money can buy, you may be surprised by the answers.
Common Sources for Content Writers
Website owners have several options when it comes to obtaining or outsourcing content.
There are content brokers, PR firms and freelancer platforms that specialize in compiling freelance writers from various fields. Most of these options, however, more often than not provide mixed results.
While these options could work for projects of lesser priority that doesn’t require amazing writing, the quality likely won’t make the cut when dealing with clients with high expectations. Content brokers and freelance directories also generally don’t translate well to your overall content marketing campaign or link building program.
Craigslist Ads
You may be surprised to find, then, that advertising on Craigslist or other free classifieds can be a solid strategy towards finding great content. To test out writers, specify in the ad that you’re looking for writers for a temporary assignment that will be used to evaluate which candidates will be used in the long-term.
If needed, have them submit a writing sample along with their resume. The writing sample should preferably be published live on the internet, and the candidate should be able to link it in the body of the email. You’ll need to be ruthless in your selectivity. Your inbox will likely be flooded with responses to your Craigslist ad, so if there’s even one thing about a candidates application that’s slightly off, put it in the trash.
Getting Your Team Together
Your inbox will likely be full of inquiries after one day. Take down your Craigslist ad after a couple days and go over the applications. Carefully read through the writing samples and narrow down your list to a few prospects. Reading every inquiry may be daunting, but it’s especially important if you’re looking for niche-specific content and writers.
Once you get these writers started on their assignments, you may find that
It’s smart to gather a team of three or so writers, which is a manageable number. Candidates with experience in Wordpress should have an edge so that way you don’t have to spend a lot of time uploading their content on the web or teaching them how to do so.
Also keep an eye out for writers who are regular guest posters on other sites. Not only will this show that they’re regularly published and already well-regarded in the community, but that they understand the value of linking and SEO Los Angeles.
Once you get these writers started on their assignments, you may find more than one candidate that you love. If this ends up being the case, multiple writers will help you handle larger projects. Having too many good writers on your team, after all, is better than having too few.
About the author
Carolyn Johnson is a staff writer for Sticky Web Media, a web marketing and Los Angeles SEO firm.23 September 2012 0
21 September 2012
With more than half of the planet’s largest online stores using Facebook in order to speak to customers and potential customers there is a large demand to get as many fans and likes as possible. Some clever people have seen a new niche in this area and have started selling Facebook Fans and Likes to companies that want to quickly increase their Facebook Page sign-ups and subscribers.
Just a quick web search reveals the extent to which this supply and demand industry has quickly grown – but before you decide to pay someone to drive a load of new fans to your Facebook Page you need to ask yourself a few questions.
Is Buying Facebook Fans Legal?
There’s are currently no laws or rules that say you cannot pay an anonymous off-shore web designer – which is typically where Facebook Fan sellers are living – a bit of money to use one of their fake Facebook logins to suggest friends and likes to your company’s new Facebook pages.
One aspect to be careful of is the fact that Facebook might see a quick up-turn in your fan numbers and figure out that you have been using dodgy methods in which to artificially increase your likes. Whether or not they can remove your pages this kind of activity growth is open to discussion – but as it stands at the moment I’ve yet to see any pages have been removed by the Facebook admin operators.
Is it Worth Buying Facebook Fans for a Company Facebook Page?
The most important thing to ask yourself whether you think it is worth your time in buying Facebook Fans and Likes in order to develop the people interacting with your company Facebook page. I’ve listed below some of the aspects that you should always think about and consider before you do it. You have probably already realised, but do I think buying Facebook Fans is worth the trouble? My answer is in the negative, and here are my personal reasons.
Bought Facebook Fans Have No Monetary Value
So you go and purchase 30,000 new Facebook likes for your business’ Facebook page – but is there really any true value in having loads more members that will never have an interest in your brand, your services, or are never probably ever going to convert into a sale?
Social media and Facebook are designed on the premise of interacting with true fans and people in an engaging and chatty way. Bought fans will never really speak to you like this, in that manner, and the chances are as soon as you start posting updates and news the not-real fans will leave very rapidly.
The Facebook PR Disaster Waiting to Happen
For example, if your Facebook Fan page suddenly increases by 500% in a week… to the more tech savvy person this will appear suspicious – and your brand and business will inevitably appear to be very desperate to increase numbers.
From a PR aspect angle this is trouble about to happen because if the fact you purchase Facebook Fans for your company becomes wider news, or people even suispect it is true, then it will move like wildfire across the Facebook platform as gossip – which could hurt your brand even more.
Buying Facebook Fans Leads to Negative Comments
OK, so you have loads of new Facebook Fans subscribed to your new company page. Surely it’s time for you to get talking and speaking to them about all the amazing things your business does - because you would like them to become a loyal customer who spends money with you right? Incorrect and here’s a quick example to consider:
You Post: Hey Guys, what do you all think of our latest blue widget to hit the stores this week?
They Post: I don’t even like your blue widgets and have never bought one in my life. I am leaving this Facebook Page now.
That’s a simple and silly example admittedly, but you should get the general idea. No matter what you say, these people have no connection with your brands or products so are either simply going to leave, which is the least damaging from a brand perspective. Or more damaging will post negative comments and then leave your Facebook page.
The Final Word on Whether Buying Facebook Fans is Worth It
Don’t do it. There are no long-term commercial gains to be made, the Fans and Likes that you gain will over time drop off and you may end alienating your loyal customer base. If you really want to increase your Facebook Page Members successfully then think a little bit cleverer about how you position yourself online.
There are many bloggers online who will say that it is worth buying Facebook Fans due to the exposure it could potentially lead to in the short-term – and one argument that often crops up is the psychological factor behind having loads of Facebook Fans – bought or organically created – this can give another Facebook user an incentive to Like… because they see that so many other people do. I think this is called the Group or Pack Mentality.
I just don’t believe that from a business perspective there is any value in it, and if you are serious about your business and your social media strategy then you should be looking to grow your customer and member base organically – and pitched towards people who actually want to spend dollars on your products and services.
Just a quick web search reveals the extent to which this supply and demand industry has quickly grown – but before you decide to pay someone to drive a load of new fans to your Facebook Page you need to ask yourself a few questions.
Is Buying Facebook Fans Legal?
There’s are currently no laws or rules that say you cannot pay an anonymous off-shore web designer – which is typically where Facebook Fan sellers are living – a bit of money to use one of their fake Facebook logins to suggest friends and likes to your company’s new Facebook pages.
One aspect to be careful of is the fact that Facebook might see a quick up-turn in your fan numbers and figure out that you have been using dodgy methods in which to artificially increase your likes. Whether or not they can remove your pages this kind of activity growth is open to discussion – but as it stands at the moment I’ve yet to see any pages have been removed by the Facebook admin operators.
Is it Worth Buying Facebook Fans for a Company Facebook Page?
The most important thing to ask yourself whether you think it is worth your time in buying Facebook Fans and Likes in order to develop the people interacting with your company Facebook page. I’ve listed below some of the aspects that you should always think about and consider before you do it. You have probably already realised, but do I think buying Facebook Fans is worth the trouble? My answer is in the negative, and here are my personal reasons.
Bought Facebook Fans Have No Monetary Value
So you go and purchase 30,000 new Facebook likes for your business’ Facebook page – but is there really any true value in having loads more members that will never have an interest in your brand, your services, or are never probably ever going to convert into a sale?
Social media and Facebook are designed on the premise of interacting with true fans and people in an engaging and chatty way. Bought fans will never really speak to you like this, in that manner, and the chances are as soon as you start posting updates and news the not-real fans will leave very rapidly.
The Facebook PR Disaster Waiting to Happen
For example, if your Facebook Fan page suddenly increases by 500% in a week… to the more tech savvy person this will appear suspicious – and your brand and business will inevitably appear to be very desperate to increase numbers.
From a PR aspect angle this is trouble about to happen because if the fact you purchase Facebook Fans for your company becomes wider news, or people even suispect it is true, then it will move like wildfire across the Facebook platform as gossip – which could hurt your brand even more.
Buying Facebook Fans Leads to Negative Comments
OK, so you have loads of new Facebook Fans subscribed to your new company page. Surely it’s time for you to get talking and speaking to them about all the amazing things your business does - because you would like them to become a loyal customer who spends money with you right? Incorrect and here’s a quick example to consider:
You Post: Hey Guys, what do you all think of our latest blue widget to hit the stores this week?
They Post: I don’t even like your blue widgets and have never bought one in my life. I am leaving this Facebook Page now.
That’s a simple and silly example admittedly, but you should get the general idea. No matter what you say, these people have no connection with your brands or products so are either simply going to leave, which is the least damaging from a brand perspective. Or more damaging will post negative comments and then leave your Facebook page.
The Final Word on Whether Buying Facebook Fans is Worth It
Don’t do it. There are no long-term commercial gains to be made, the Fans and Likes that you gain will over time drop off and you may end alienating your loyal customer base. If you really want to increase your Facebook Page Members successfully then think a little bit cleverer about how you position yourself online.
There are many bloggers online who will say that it is worth buying Facebook Fans due to the exposure it could potentially lead to in the short-term – and one argument that often crops up is the psychological factor behind having loads of Facebook Fans – bought or organically created – this can give another Facebook user an incentive to Like… because they see that so many other people do. I think this is called the Group or Pack Mentality.
I just don’t believe that from a business perspective there is any value in it, and if you are serious about your business and your social media strategy then you should be looking to grow your customer and member base organically – and pitched towards people who actually want to spend dollars on your products and services.
Peter B is a social media blogger who is currently working on a number of different projects in the sports and fitness sectors. As you can see from this Garmin Forerunner 10 page which he is promoting on Twitter, Facebook – as well pushing the product images on the Pinterest website. Check out the link below and mouse over the FR10 images to see how he does it:
Garmin Forerunner 10
Garmin Forerunner 10
21 September 2012 0
Happy B'day dear Smiley :)
Smiley :), the stylized representation of a smiling human face celebrated its 30th Birthday on 19th September 2012. The smiley was first invented by Scott Fahlman on 19th September 1982.
See the words from Scott :
"A lot of people have asked me about this, so I thought I’d put the information here, linked under my home page:
Yes, I am the inventor of the sideways “smiley face” (sometimes called an “emoticon”) that is commonly used in E-mail, chat, and newsgroup posts. Or at least I’m one of the inventors.
By the early 1980’s, the Computer Science community at Carnegie Mellon was making heavy use of online bulletin boards or “bboards”. These were a precursor of today’s newsgroups, and they were an important social mechanism in the department – a place where faculty, staff, and students could discuss the weighty matters of the day on an equal footing. Many of the posts were serious: talk announcements, requests for information, and things like “I’ve just found a ring in the fifth-floor men’s room. Who does it belong to?” Other posts discussed topics of general interest, ranging from politics to abortion to campus parking to keyboard layout (in increasing order of passion). Even in those days, extended “flame wars” were common.
Given the nature of the community, a good many of the posts were humorous (or attempted humor). The problem was that if someone made a sarcastic remark, a few readers would fail to get the joke, and each of them would post a lengthy diatribe in response. That would stir up more people with more responses, and soon the original thread of the discussion was buried. In at least one case, a humorous remark was interpreted by someone as a serious safety warning.
This problem caused some of us to suggest (only half seriously) that maybe it would be a good idea to explicitly mark posts that were not to be taken seriously. After all, when using text-based online communication, we lack the body language or tone-of-voice cues that convey this information when we talk in person or on the phone. Various “joke markers” were suggested, and in the midst of that discussion it occurred to me that the character sequence :-) would be an elegant solution – one that could be handled by the ASCII-based computer terminals of the day. So I suggested that. In the same post, I also suggested the use of :-( to indicate that a message was meant to be taken seriously, though that symbol quickly evolved into a marker for displeasure, frustration, or anger.
This convention caught on quickly around Carnegie Mellon, and soon spread to other universities and research labs via the primitive computer networks of the day. (Some CMU alumni who had moved on to other places continued to read our bboards as a way of keeping in touch with their old community.)
Within a few months, we started seeing the lists with dozens of “smilies”: open-mouthed surprise, person wearing glasses, Abraham Lincoln, Santa Claus, the pope, and so on. Producing such clever compilations has become a serious hobby for some people. But only my two original smilies, plus the “winky” ;-) and the “noseless” variants seem to be in common use for actual communication. It’s interesting to note that Microsoft and AOL now intercept these character strings and turn them into little pictures. Personally, I think this destroys the whimsical element of the original.
Unfortunately, I didn’t keep a copy of my original post. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. By the time I realized that this smiley-face phenomenon was going to be long-lasting and that it would spread around the world as the Internet grew, it was too late to easily retrieve the post, and the original message was lost for many years.
Several attempts to find the post on old backup tapes were unsuccessful. But recently Mike Jones of Microsoft sponsored a more serious “archeological dig” through our ancient backup tapes. Jeff Baird and the CMU CS facilities staff put in a heroic effort with the support and encouragement of Howard Wactlar, Bob Cosgrove, and David Livingston. They found the proper tapes, located a working tape drive that could read the ancient media, decoded the old formats, and did a lot of searching to find the actual posts. I am most grateful to all who participated in this successful quest, which I call the “Digital Coelacanth Project.”
So the message itself, and the thread that gave rise to it, are here. The exact date of the smiley’s birth can now be determined: 19 September, 1982. It’s great to have this message back just in time for the 20th anniversary of the original post.
As you can see, the note in which I suggested this thing was quite short and casual – just part of an ongoing discussion that involved many people. I apparently didn’t even read it over before posting, since a word or two were dropped in editing. I do remember writing a longer message in which I explained the need for a humor-marker in more detail, and suggested the :-) symbol, along with :-( to indicate anger or real unhappiness. But this longer message must have come later – perhaps a later bboard post or an E-mail message that I sent to someone. In any case, that more detailed post did not turn up in our search.
Many people have denounced the very idea of the smiley face, pointing out that good writers should have no need to explicitly label their humorous comments. Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain got along just fine without this. And by labeling the remarks that are not meant to be taken seriously, we spoil the joke. In satirical writing, half the fun is in never being quite sure whether the author is serious or not.
To a large degree, I agree with these critics. Perhaps the E-mail smiley face has done more to degrade our written communication than to improve it. But in defense of the idea, let me say two things:
First, not all people who post on boards have the literary skill of Shakespeare or Twain, and even those luminaries had bad days. If Shakespeare were tossing off a quick note complaining about the lack of employee parking spaces near the Globe Theater, he might have produced the same kind of sloppy prose that the rest of us do. Besides, Shakespeare’s work is full of clichés and his spelling was atrocious. :-)
Second, and more important, these authors were publishing their words in a different medium, with different properties. If 100,000 copies of a novel or an essay were distributed in printed form, and if 1% of the readers didn’t get the joke and were outraged at what they had read, there was nothing these clueless readers could do to spoil the enjoyment of the other 99%. But if it were possible for each of the 1000 clueless readers to write a lengthy counter-argument and to flood these into the same distribution channels as the original work, and if others could then jump into the fray in similar fashion, you can see the problems that this would cause. If the judicious use of a few smilies can reduce the frequency of such firestorms, then maybe it’s not such a bad idea after all. Again, we’re talking here about casual writing on the Internet, not great works printed in one-way media that relatively inaccessible to the general public.
One final point: I’ve seen various claims that the sideways smiley face was invented by someone else. I believe that I invented this particular glyph and the “turn your head to one side” principle independently. I don’t recall seeing anything like this before my post, though a few messages in the thread we just located come close. Leonard Hamey’s post suggesting (#) for humor might be taken as an example of “turn your head to one side” – it’s not really clear if that was his intent – and apparently \__/ was used by one of our research groups to indicate a smile. I’ve never seen any hard evidence that the :-) sequence was in use before my original post, and I’ve never run into anyone who actually claims to have invented it before I did. But it’s always possible that someone else had the same idea – it’s a simple and obvious idea, after all.
Some people have told me that the :-) or :) convention was used by teletype operators in the old days. Maybe so. I haven’t seen any examples of this, but it’s plausible, given the limitations of the character set in that medium.
So, the smiley idea may have appeared and disappeared a few times before my 1982 post, but it is pretty clear from the timing that my suggestion was the one that finally took hold, spread around the world, and spawned thousands of variations. "
Source : http://www.cs.cmu.edu/smiley/
Fahlman is credited with originating the first smiley emoticon, which he thought would help people on a message board at Carnegie Mellon to distinguish serious posts from jokes. He proposed the use of :-) and :-( for this purpose, and the symbols caught on. The original message from which these symbols originated was posted on September 19, 1982. The message was recovered by Jeff Baird on September 10, 2002 and is quoted:
Source : Wikipedia
Given the nature of the community, a good many of the posts were humorous (or attempted humor). The problem was that if someone made a sarcastic remark, a few readers would fail to get the joke, and each of them would post a lengthy diatribe in response. That would stir up more people with more responses, and soon the original thread of the discussion was buried. In at least one case, a humorous remark was interpreted by someone as a serious safety warning.
This problem caused some of us to suggest (only half seriously) that maybe it would be a good idea to explicitly mark posts that were not to be taken seriously. After all, when using text-based online communication, we lack the body language or tone-of-voice cues that convey this information when we talk in person or on the phone. Various “joke markers” were suggested, and in the midst of that discussion it occurred to me that the character sequence :-) would be an elegant solution – one that could be handled by the ASCII-based computer terminals of the day. So I suggested that. In the same post, I also suggested the use of :-( to indicate that a message was meant to be taken seriously, though that symbol quickly evolved into a marker for displeasure, frustration, or anger.
This convention caught on quickly around Carnegie Mellon, and soon spread to other universities and research labs via the primitive computer networks of the day. (Some CMU alumni who had moved on to other places continued to read our bboards as a way of keeping in touch with their old community.)
Within a few months, we started seeing the lists with dozens of “smilies”: open-mouthed surprise, person wearing glasses, Abraham Lincoln, Santa Claus, the pope, and so on. Producing such clever compilations has become a serious hobby for some people. But only my two original smilies, plus the “winky” ;-) and the “noseless” variants seem to be in common use for actual communication. It’s interesting to note that Microsoft and AOL now intercept these character strings and turn them into little pictures. Personally, I think this destroys the whimsical element of the original.
Unfortunately, I didn’t keep a copy of my original post. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. By the time I realized that this smiley-face phenomenon was going to be long-lasting and that it would spread around the world as the Internet grew, it was too late to easily retrieve the post, and the original message was lost for many years.
Several attempts to find the post on old backup tapes were unsuccessful. But recently Mike Jones of Microsoft sponsored a more serious “archeological dig” through our ancient backup tapes. Jeff Baird and the CMU CS facilities staff put in a heroic effort with the support and encouragement of Howard Wactlar, Bob Cosgrove, and David Livingston. They found the proper tapes, located a working tape drive that could read the ancient media, decoded the old formats, and did a lot of searching to find the actual posts. I am most grateful to all who participated in this successful quest, which I call the “Digital Coelacanth Project.”
So the message itself, and the thread that gave rise to it, are here. The exact date of the smiley’s birth can now be determined: 19 September, 1982. It’s great to have this message back just in time for the 20th anniversary of the original post.
As you can see, the note in which I suggested this thing was quite short and casual – just part of an ongoing discussion that involved many people. I apparently didn’t even read it over before posting, since a word or two were dropped in editing. I do remember writing a longer message in which I explained the need for a humor-marker in more detail, and suggested the :-) symbol, along with :-( to indicate anger or real unhappiness. But this longer message must have come later – perhaps a later bboard post or an E-mail message that I sent to someone. In any case, that more detailed post did not turn up in our search.
Many people have denounced the very idea of the smiley face, pointing out that good writers should have no need to explicitly label their humorous comments. Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain got along just fine without this. And by labeling the remarks that are not meant to be taken seriously, we spoil the joke. In satirical writing, half the fun is in never being quite sure whether the author is serious or not.
To a large degree, I agree with these critics. Perhaps the E-mail smiley face has done more to degrade our written communication than to improve it. But in defense of the idea, let me say two things:
First, not all people who post on boards have the literary skill of Shakespeare or Twain, and even those luminaries had bad days. If Shakespeare were tossing off a quick note complaining about the lack of employee parking spaces near the Globe Theater, he might have produced the same kind of sloppy prose that the rest of us do. Besides, Shakespeare’s work is full of clichés and his spelling was atrocious. :-)
Second, and more important, these authors were publishing their words in a different medium, with different properties. If 100,000 copies of a novel or an essay were distributed in printed form, and if 1% of the readers didn’t get the joke and were outraged at what they had read, there was nothing these clueless readers could do to spoil the enjoyment of the other 99%. But if it were possible for each of the 1000 clueless readers to write a lengthy counter-argument and to flood these into the same distribution channels as the original work, and if others could then jump into the fray in similar fashion, you can see the problems that this would cause. If the judicious use of a few smilies can reduce the frequency of such firestorms, then maybe it’s not such a bad idea after all. Again, we’re talking here about casual writing on the Internet, not great works printed in one-way media that relatively inaccessible to the general public.
One final point: I’ve seen various claims that the sideways smiley face was invented by someone else. I believe that I invented this particular glyph and the “turn your head to one side” principle independently. I don’t recall seeing anything like this before my post, though a few messages in the thread we just located come close. Leonard Hamey’s post suggesting (#) for humor might be taken as an example of “turn your head to one side” – it’s not really clear if that was his intent – and apparently \__/ was used by one of our research groups to indicate a smile. I’ve never seen any hard evidence that the :-) sequence was in use before my original post, and I’ve never run into anyone who actually claims to have invented it before I did. But it’s always possible that someone else had the same idea – it’s a simple and obvious idea, after all.
Some people have told me that the :-) or :) convention was used by teletype operators in the old days. Maybe so. I haven’t seen any examples of this, but it’s plausible, given the limitations of the character set in that medium.
So, the smiley idea may have appeared and disappeared a few times before my 1982 post, but it is pretty clear from the timing that my suggestion was the one that finally took hold, spread around the world, and spawned thousands of variations. "
Source : http://www.cs.cmu.edu/smiley/
Fahlman is credited with originating the first smiley emoticon, which he thought would help people on a message board at Carnegie Mellon to distinguish serious posts from jokes. He proposed the use of :-) and :-( for this purpose, and the symbols caught on. The original message from which these symbols originated was posted on September 19, 1982. The message was recovered by Jeff Baird on September 10, 2002 and is quoted:
19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E. Fahlman :-)
From: Scott E. Fahlman <Fahlman at Cmu-20c>
I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:
:-)
Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use
:-(
Source : Wikipedia
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