Well, not necessarily an emoticon. It's the BlackBerry logo. I wonder when that came up. I remember it was just a 'incomplete' BlackBerry logo back then.
It's not a BBM 3 release. This is a code used for ones status that's been around for a while (in various forms)
Anyone can use it and all will be able to see it....unlike the new emoticons in BBM3 which need a beta version to see.
In the browser copy one logo at a time and create a word shortcut in Settings>Language & Input>Prediction & Correction>Word Substitution>Add Shortcut for each of them.
I have bbl for the first and bbll for the second.
I am unable to remember which other BlackBerry site showed this tip.