The Day of the Power of Smiles 2021

In 1982, the first emoticon was born, also known as the "smiley". That makes sense, because the first of the faces used everywhere today was actually a smile. Scott Fahlman invented it on 19 September after conversations on his message board failed time and again - because people didn't understand each other.

Jokes were not clear, the tone of a message came across wrong or discussions arose because people interpreted text differently than it was meant. What followed was Fahlman's simple but clever idea: messages should be marked with a symbol to show that they were meant ironically or humorously. That was the birth of the first smiley.

It unplannedly changed the way people communicate via text forever. Suddenly there was clarity about the subtle nuances of a message. You no longer had to guess whether the other person meant something facetiously or seriously. Today, everyone is well aware of how helpful emoticons are in communication.

They were also the basis of emojis, which originated in Japan and were invented and developed by Shigetaka Kurita. Emojis are even easier and more efficient to use. Instead of individual characters, there are little pictures with concrete, much more distinct facial expressions.

15 June is the day of the power of smiles. Therefore, we hope to encourage you to either smile yourself or to make others smile. Especially when we see each other less in times of quarantines and curfews, it can help to be able to send a smile to your loved ones quickly and easily.