The Somewhat Secret History of Emojis

A CompuServe marketer from the ’80s recalls the birth of emojis and avatars

MC Mooney
Modus

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Photos courtesy of the author.

WWhenever I reach for an emoji as a shorthand for adding emotional effect to an online message nowadays, I’m reminded of a baby step that the phenomenon took back in 1985. This was well before AOL combined CD-ROMs and a virtual private network to bring interactive multimedia…

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MC Mooney
Modus

Brand strategist and namer of things. Urban essayist and observer of things. Boston based. Midwest bred.