The primary difference between an emoji and an emoticon is the fact that while an emoticon is created out of text, primarily via the use of punctuation marks, whereas an emoji is a small image, a pictograph.

The primary difference between a smiley and an emoticon is that the smiley is the cute yellow face, whereas an emoticon is the one created from text.

SMS sends a message phone to phone. IM send messages from computer to computer via the internet.