How to Use Emoticons in Google Chat

As Google and Google Mail become more pervasive on the Internet, and electronic communication continues to grow as the preferred method of correspondence, more tricks, bells and whistles are being created to keep these methods fresh and up to date. One such addition is the emoticon, which is used to inject an amusing bit of art about your mood, or the subject of your conversation, into an email or instant message. For more about gchat--look at eHow's article on that subject. Read on to learn how to use emoticons in Google Chat.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Internet connection

1. Sign in to your Gmail account.

2. On the left you will have an option to sign into Gchat--do this.

3. Once you have signed into Gchat a list of contacts will appear, again on the left side of the screen, and these are marked with either a green, red, amber or gray identifier. These represent the availability of your contacts: red for busy, green for available, amber for timed out and gray for not logged in.

4. Choose a contact with a green identifier and click on their name to open up a dialog, or chat, box.

5. Click inside the dialog box to begin sending a message.

6. Gchat is programmed to alter certain pairings of keystrokes into emoticons. Some of the most common ar :), which will change to a smily face, :(, a sad one, :*, a kiss, ;), a wink, <3, a heart, and :P, a lolling tongue. Experiment to discover more.