It’s the end of an era for Facebook: Beginning today,
you will be able to do more than
just “like” a post with new emoji-like reactions.
As long as the
Facebook like has existed, there have been people who requested
a dislike option. Previously, it would look like people were expressing approval
for everything they would like on the social network, even when that something
was sad or maddening. Semantically, liking a post about a person’s illness or
politically incorrect gaffe inherently feels and sounds terrible.
Fortunately, the new reactions system lets you better
show how you truly feel. To use a reaction, hover your cursor over the Like
button on your computer or hold it down on a mobile device. You’re then given
the option to use a heart, laughing face, sad face, shocked face and angry face
to show what you think of someone’s post. On mobile, the emojis are animated
during the selection process.
Facebook decided on this first set of emoji reactions
by scanning the
comments sections of
posts. They found that one word replies like “haha” and “wow” were incredibly
common, and after implementing a sticker comment feature last year, users could
better express their emotions. After all, those one word comments and Minion
stickers say a lot about the feelings a post invokes. The reactions proved
popular with the test users in Spain and Ireland who tried them out first.
Facebook has rolled out a ton of new features lately. Live video
lets users livestream whatever they’re doing straight into
the Newsfeed, and debuted to everyone at the end of January. The addition of
animated gifs have livened up the social network, as well.
It’s been rumored that Twitter could roll out a
similar feature to Facebook’s reactions, as users expressed discontent when the site’s
favorite button was turned into a like a few months ago. Because
the struggling Twitter is always looking to gain more popularity, these emoji
reactions might be on the way, as well.
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