Brief History of Emoticons

First off, for my first post I'm primarily be talking about the origins and history of emoticons. Second, this is my first post on a formal blog ever (I have a Tumblr but all I ever do on it is reblog), so I hope I can figure out the mechanisms by the end of this project. I'm very happy to be focusing on emoticons, as I enjoy them very much. I'm excited to be researching emoticons, in the hopes I'll learn something new. My goal is you do too.
I think it's safe to say that the majority of people living within our society in the twenty-first century have had some sort of experience with what we call 'emoticons.' Although emoticons have been officially around for decades, they haven't taken full effect of prominence until the last decade or so. This can be specifically attributed to the burst of modern technology. Emoticons can be defined as: "a digital icon or a sequence of keyboard symbols that serves to represent a facial expression, as :‐) for a smiling face. Emoticons are used in a digital message or text to convey the writer’s emotions or clarify intent." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/emoticon) It has been widely debated where the first emoticon appeared in print, but it has been speculated that it was first seen in a transcript of a speech written by President Abraham Lincoln in 1892 where he wrote; "(applause and laughter ;)." (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304213904579093661814158946)
For me personally, I feel as though this could have been a simple typo. Although it was noted in the article that the transcript was hand written, rather than written on a type writer; which would have been a more plausible reason as to why it would have been a grammatical error. I guess it will forever be a mystery, although it would be cool if the first smiley face in print was by Abraham Lincoln himself. Since 1892, the evolution of emoticons are continually changing and advancing to fit into our modernistic society.