:/

They have poop. I think that says a lot.

Several folk have predicted this potential outcome for the human race - that language would de-evolve back to pictographs. Here's one take on this:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/10/most-ci…

The written word is being used to fill a niche it has never had to fill in the history of humanity: be a medium for the casual conversation. It's been used for the highest forms of expression, in terms of art, science, etc, and the lowest: graffiti. But the main mode of human interaction comes in those casual moments between people-- How ya doin'? You gonna be there? That's some fucked up shit. and so on....

That's where most of the emotional language takes place, the body language, the tone, the inflection. ie. Just the kind of communication that the written word doesn't convey.

Emoticons are a stop-gap, a solution we have until something better comes along. It's humans evolving. Yeah, it's not perfect, what is? I figure, enjoy the process, and stop looking at the current situation as How It Will Be For The Rest of Your Life. The genie ain't goin back in that bottle any time soon.

I've noted more people adding emoticons to their FB posts.

I hate it.

In answer to your questions, Paul...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh, and remember when we were taking about how Seattle is Norway not San Francisco (bright colors versus muted).

Look, see, these are appropriate colors for place with lots of cloudy rainy days (Tumwater development):

http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/Washingt…

Ok, well, even Vikings have to have a little color:

http://www.aanetsen.net/images/Norway/No…

And if you don't believe me that Washington is Norway, go and watch "Trollhunter". Yes, it does look the same.

Facebook is nothing more that a corporate tool to push their crap onto the consumer.

And that's why Facebook will be with us forever....I expect that within three more Presidential administrations all Americans will be forced to have a Facebook account. :)

It requires a complex palette of nuanced expressions to fully communicate the emotional overtones surrounding that Instagram™ picture of what I had for lunch.

Where is the FB emoticon for redirecting users of the Washington Post and NY Times to a FB error page?

a language of pure emotion. you're against that?

Yay for what @5 said.

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻)

That's great. For everyone who doesn't like it, there's already a Facebook for people who don't care about the emotions of humans, called Reddit.

Better, but increasingly unlikely.

Just look at Skype, their animated emoticons are excellent and in my opinion, they elevate the conversation.

You know, y`all are assuming these emoticons are being developed just for use in posts.

Consider: they might, as likely, become a more gradated replacement for the ever-so-simplistic "like" button.

Why can't language evolve into just as complex and rich a form of communication using pictures or pictograms as in the use of letters and words? Both are just vehicles for communicating concepts with layers of direct meaning, nuance, connotation, etc. One is not superior to another.

On a side note, I have noticed facebook posts now using words to describe the emoticons that used to be posted. for example *sadface* or *excited smiley*. It's a weird phenomenon.

(╯°□°)╯︵ ʞooqǝɔɐɟ

And here I thought pictographic languages tended to connote less advanced societies because they lacked the capacity to be used in complex and abstract ways....

We still need a universal sign for "this is being said in sarcasm". Other than that, yeah, emoticons suck.

the emoticons will become self-aware and kill us all.

Use of emoticons in on-line forum discussions indicates the idiots. The higher the emoticon-to-text ratio the stupider the post (and the stupider the person posting).

ಠ_ಠ

@24 for the win.

@26 seriously?

The purpose of new emoticons is not to facilitate communication on the network- it's an attempt to extract another level of information to sell. Instead of saying a number of people "like" something, FB will be able to say that they know exactly how people feel about brands, tv shows, etc

Kids these days and their emotions.

Pfft! Why did they hire someone to do that when there are entire galleries full of dancing emotes on Deviantart?
http://browse.deviantart.com/customizati…