Kaoani comes from the Japanese kao (顔, face) and ani (アニ, animation). Kaoanis are small animated smilies that usually bounce up and down to look like...

communication Henohenomoheji Hieroglyph iConji Internet slang Irony punctuation Kaoani List of emoticons Martian language Pixel art Smiley Tête à Toto Text Typographic...

can be replaced by other forms of similar graphics; an example would be kaoani (e.g., *(^O^)*, (^-^)b), or even text between special symbols (e.g., :blink:...