How to use Facebook emoticons

Facebook Chat is a pretty basic instant messaging tool. Nevertheless, it makes for a functional and practical way to chat with your buddies on the social network.

Like any self-respecting IM client, Facebook Chat has a bunch of smileys (often known as emoticons) that allow you to show your mood or just brighten up dull conversations. Here’s a guide to all the known Facebook Chat emoticons but do let us know if you discover more :=)

Icon	Meaning	Characters	Icon	Meaning	Characters
	Happy	🙂 🙂 :] =)		Pucker up	:3
	Very happy	😀 😀 =D		Angel	O:) O:-)
	Sad	🙁 🙁 :[ =(		Devil	3:) 3:-)
	Crying	:'(		Glasses	😎 8) B-)
	Confused	o.O O.o		Heart	<3
	Stick out tongue	😛 😛 :-p :p		Oriental eyes	^_^
	Surprised	:-O :O 😮 😮		Kiss	:-* :*
	Angry	>:( >:-(		Sunglasses	8-| 8| B-|
	Unsure	:/ :-/ :\ :-\		Robot	:|]
	Wink	😉 😉		Penguin	<(“)
	Horrible	>:O >:-O >:o		Shark	(^^^)
	Relaxed	-_-		Putnam	:putnam:
	Pacman	:v		42	:42:

As you can see, many of these are pretty standard emoticons for a chat client. However, there are a few that seem to come way out of left field. In case you’re wondering the strange face belongs to Chris Putnam, a former Facebook developer. And the number 42? Well, that, of course, is the definitive answer to the ultimate question of life, the Universe, and everything.

Get more Facebook emoticons

Facemoods adds dozens of animated emoticons to Facebook Chat. To use it, you must make sure that you and the person you’re speaking to are running Facebook in Firefox.

Another way to spice up your Facebook smilies is to create your own emoticons using ASCII art, or by cutting and pasting the most famous creations from ASCII art collections such as this one. Be careful with including anything too large because it will lose detail when viewed in the small Facebook Chat window. Small faces and symbols like the ones here are perfect, though:

Faces: ๏̯͡๏ ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶ ٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(×̯×)۶ (●̮̮̃•̃) (•̪●) ಠ_ಠ ಥ_ಥ

Symbols: ☮ ♩♪♫♬ ☎ ★ ☯ ☀ ☻☺☹ ♨ ♥ ☁ ☂ ♀ ♂ ☝☞☟

Do you know any more Facebook emoticons? Got any cool ASCII art to share with us? Then let us know 😛

[Via: OnSoftware Germany]