:(

In texting, the emoticon :( is used to represent sadness, disappointment, or any general feeling of being upset. It's a visual representation of a sad face, where the colon represents the eyes and the open parenthesis represents a downturned mouth. This emoticon was very commonly used in digital communication to convey emotions that might not have been clearly expressed through text alone.

Emoticons like :( have been largely supplemented by more sophisticated emojis (in this case the disappointed face emoji), which are graphical symbols that accomplish the same purpose, but can be more nuanced and varied. However, due to its simplicity and near-universal recognition, the classic :( still enjoys widespread use.

:( signifies the same as the version with a hyphen ":-(". In fact, the hyphenated version is a bit older and was more commonly used in the early days of the internet and SMS text messaging. Over time, as the need for brevity increased and, as emojis began to take over, the simpler :( became more popular. Both versions are understood to signify the same emotions and are generally interchangeable.