Facebook Adds Emoji ‘Reactions’ to ‘Like’ Button

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It’s finally happened, Facebook has expanded the capabilities of its ‘like’ button.  They have been working for more than a year to add options to posts beyond ‘liking’ them.  Now, they have officially and globally launched ‘reactions’.

From Forbes:

Users can still respond to a post or comment with the traditional “like” button. But starting Wednesday, holding down the “like” button on mobile or hovering over the icon on desktop, gives users an expanded menu allowing them to choose from six different animated emoji “Reactions”: Like, Love, Haha, Wow Sad or Angry. “Reactions” are designed to be an extension of the “like” button as opposed to a full-on replacement. Users will be notified when their posts receive ”Reactions” in the same way they’re notified about “likes.”

For over a year now, Facebook has been toying with options for building on the ‘like’ button.  Many users have called for a ‘dislike’ button, but an equal number of people were worried about the negative potential uses of such a tool.  Facebook’s solution seems to cover a lot of bases here.  Users can still ‘like’ posts, but now they can also express love of a post, humor over a post, shock of a post, sadness, and anger.  We’ll see how the ‘reactions’ play out with the mass public.

For now, we are already getting use out of them.  We have to consider also that Facebook is able to collect a whole new kind of data from their users now.  They have the ability to alter users newsfeeds based on their like preferences and now Facebook will be able to tailor user experiences even more specifically.  Time will tell how these new reactions will impact social media marketing on Facebook in the future.

From Facebook’s product manager Sammi Krug:

Initially, just as we do when someone likes a post, if someone uses a Reaction, we will infer they want to see more of that type of post. In the beginning, it won’t matter if someone likes, “wows” or “sads” a post — we will initially use any Reaction similar to a Like to infer that you want to see more of that type of content. Over time we hope to learn how the different Reactions should be weighted differently by News Feed to do a better job of showing everyone the stories they most want to see.

What do you all think of Facebook’s new ‘reactions’? Have you used them yet? How do you think they will be impacting social media marketing?  Comment below!

Breanne BannonBreanne Bannon

Breanne is a Content Writer, Social Media Marketeer, and Sales Associate for Sprocket Websites.

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