First digital smiley was used to indicate sarcasm
The digital smiley was first used 34 years ago on September 19, 1982 to avoid confusion when people used sarcasm online. Scott Fahlman, a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University proposed that ":-)" read sideways could be used as 'joke markers' on the online bulletin board. He reportedly also suggested emoticons for wink face, Abraham Lincoln, and Santa Claus.