Emoticons or smiley faces have evolved to add nuances to your message. These are groups of characters which are meant to look like a face turned on its side. It is used to indicate amusement, or that a comment is supposed to be funny or ironic. There are hundreds of other smileys, some recognisable, some not. Use smiley faces sparingly.
Overuse destroys their value.
Signatures Many email packages allow a standard block of text to be attached to each message that you send.