Hi Coleen!
- "They both mean the English of lol, correct?"
Yes. They are Internet acronyms for laugh and they are used the same way you use "lol" in English.
When/why would one be used over the other?
- You can use both according to your preference. In Brazil, people can use a lot of acronyms, the quantity of letters will indicates the intensity of your laugh. For example:
rsrsrs
kkkkkk
hehehe
hahaha
hiauha
hihihi
huehue
huahua
lol
looool
555555
If you want to indicate intensity you can use for example
rsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrs
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
hahahahahahahahaha
loooooooooooooooooooool
etc...