Are there any websites like Smiley Central?

Are 10,000 Smiley's really free?

• I want to know the what the business angle is behind the free 10,000 Smiley's you see posted on various websites? What do the publishers of the 10,000 smiley's get out of it when you download their software to your computer?

• Answer:

  Howdy kdr93023-ga, At face value, The "Smiley Central" software that is promoted under the "10,000 Smileys" moniker gains market share by placing promotional ads at the bottom of an user's email. Details can be found on one of their Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) pages. http://emoticons.smileycentral.com/help/webmail.html "Why does Smiley Central include a promotional ad at the bottom of my outgoing emails? As you know, Smiley Central is 100% FREE. This promotional copy allows us to cost-effectively promote our product to a very targeted audience - namely, people who are receiving emails containing our smileys. In other words, it's a great way for us to get the word out about smileys and continue to offer you thousands of smileys for free." Of course, that doesn't make any real sense at all, so there must be some other "catch" with the whole deal. For that, we need to examine their "END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT" or EULA. http://helpint.mywebsearch.com/intlinfo/eula/eula.jhtml "The Software, in the course of processing a given search query, sends a request to our servers. This request includes the keyword query ... and a code which identifies the distribution source of the Software used by you to conduct your search. If the search query is being generated as the result of a misspelled URL or search term entered in to the browser address bar, we also receive the misspelled URL address or search term. We use this information in order to properly process your search request. For example, ... aggregated usage and retention information; and aggregated search query information for the purpose of further monetizing commercially oriented search keywords." I am going to emphasize that last phrase: "... for the purpose of further monetizing commercially oriented search keywords." There we have it. The accumulation of search information, and misspelled search information, no matter if it is "anonymous," is worth lots of money to people putting up websites and running ads and for "keyword" purposes, but only if that information is in depth enough and from a large enough information stream. In order to do that, you need to offer lots of "bells and whistles" (or a "dog and pony show" as my Grandfather used to put it) in order to get lots of people to use the software that allows that accumulation of information. Such things as "search assistants" (see below) are not enough, so you need to grab people's hearts, minds and (more importantly) their eyes. Smileys (emoticons) are the perfect "eye candy" for that purpose. Keep in mind that you do not get "just" "Smiley Central" but you also agree to the installation of the following software as well, along with the Smileys. "By agreeing to this contract, software with the following features will be installed onto your computer ..." - SEARCH BOX - SEARCH ASSISTANT - SMILEY CENTRAL - CURSOR MANIA - FUN BUDDY ICONS [Several deleted for space] - POPULAR SCREENSAVERS - SMOTOS Maybe understandably so, some people have reasons to not want the "Fun Web Products" software, as the above are called, installed on their computer. The "PC Hell" website provides some more insight with their "What is Smiley Central?" article. http://www.pchell.com/support/smileycentral.shtml "Although none of these products claim to be spyware, they do slow your computer down. All of the products use cookies to track usage, although they claim not to use cookies or anything else to track personally identifiable information. That being said, I would still recommend uninstalling the SmileyCentral software and other Fun Web Products if you feel your computer runs better without them." If you need any clarification, please feel free to ask. Search strategy: Google search on: "10,000 Smileys" ://www.google.com/search?q=%2210%2C000+Smileys%22 Google search on: "Smiley Central" ://www.google.com/search?q=%22Smiley+Central%22 Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher