Awestruck by Facebook's 6 New 'Reactions' Emojis
Facebook is delivering on Mark Zuckerberg’s promise to offer more options than to just Like a post. Back in September, Zuckerberg said that Facebook is working not on a dislike button, but on something that will help you show empathy towards a post.
Well, Reactions is what Facebook came up with. It’s not a dislike button, it a set of emojis, 6 for now, emojis that offer new ways of showing emotion toward a post or status update.
You’re not getting a dislike button! Here's why!
Back in September, Mark Zuckerberg hosted a townhall Q&A session at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. During that session someone from Cairo pointed out that we should have more options than just a “Like” button, we should have options such as “I’m Sorry”, “Interesting”, or “Dislike.”
Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook is indeed working on providing more options – but it is not working on a dislike button. Why? Because when you have like and dislike, people can vote up things they like and vote down things they do not. If you post something and people vote it down, you will have a negative experience. Facebook doesn’t want its users to have negative experiences and consequently, it isn’t giving you a dislike button.
Zuckerberg explained that you won’t get a dislike button, what you will get instead is the ability to express empathy. “I do think that it is important to give people more options than just like as a quick way to emote and share what they’re feeling on a post. So, we’ve been working on this for a while, actually its surprisingly complicated to make an interaction that you want to be that simple, but we have an idea that we think we’re going to be ready to test soon,” said Zuckerberg.
Meet the new Reactions, 6 interesting emojis
The idea Zuckerberg mentioned above is the new Reactions, an extension of the Like button that provides more ways of expressing your reaction to a post.
Alongside the classic Like, you have 6 other options: Love, Ha ha, Yay, Wow, Sad, and Angry.
Facebook hasn’t rolled out Reactions to everyone. The new feature is being tested in two locations: Ireland and Spain.
Product Manager Chris Tosswill explains: “We’re excited to start this test, but understand that this is a big change, and one that we want to make sure to get right. So we’re starting by offering Reactions to Ireland and Spain, where people will be able to react to any post across Facebook – a post from a friend, advertiser, publisher or business.”
When you Like a post, Facebook assumes you want to see more of that type of thing. When you use Reactions, Facebook will assume you liked it and you want more. Chris Tosswill again: “Our goal is to show you the stories that matter most to you in News Feed. 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. We will spend time learning from this initial rollout and iterate based on findings in the future.”
In related news…
Facebook’s Creative Labs comes up with new ways to enhance the core Facebook experience and creates apps that focus on supporting the “diverse ways people want to connect and share.” I went over these apps and I picked the 5 most interesting and most useful ones.
Can you believe that people still fall for hoaxes like “Facebook will start charging you”? That’s one of several myths that people still believe in.
Well, Reactions is what Facebook came up with. It’s not a dislike button, it a set of emojis, 6 for now, emojis that offer new ways of showing emotion toward a post or status update.
You’re not getting a dislike button! Here's why!
Back in September, Mark Zuckerberg hosted a townhall Q&A session at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. During that session someone from Cairo pointed out that we should have more options than just a “Like” button, we should have options such as “I’m Sorry”, “Interesting”, or “Dislike.”
Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook is indeed working on providing more options – but it is not working on a dislike button. Why? Because when you have like and dislike, people can vote up things they like and vote down things they do not. If you post something and people vote it down, you will have a negative experience. Facebook doesn’t want its users to have negative experiences and consequently, it isn’t giving you a dislike button.
Zuckerberg explained that you won’t get a dislike button, what you will get instead is the ability to express empathy. “I do think that it is important to give people more options than just like as a quick way to emote and share what they’re feeling on a post. So, we’ve been working on this for a while, actually its surprisingly complicated to make an interaction that you want to be that simple, but we have an idea that we think we’re going to be ready to test soon,” said Zuckerberg.
Meet the new Reactions, 6 interesting emojis
The idea Zuckerberg mentioned above is the new Reactions, an extension of the Like button that provides more ways of expressing your reaction to a post.
Alongside the classic Like, you have 6 other options: Love, Ha ha, Yay, Wow, Sad, and Angry.
Facebook hasn’t rolled out Reactions to everyone. The new feature is being tested in two locations: Ireland and Spain.
Product Manager Chris Tosswill explains: “We’re excited to start this test, but understand that this is a big change, and one that we want to make sure to get right. So we’re starting by offering Reactions to Ireland and Spain, where people will be able to react to any post across Facebook – a post from a friend, advertiser, publisher or business.”
When you Like a post, Facebook assumes you want to see more of that type of thing. When you use Reactions, Facebook will assume you liked it and you want more. Chris Tosswill again: “Our goal is to show you the stories that matter most to you in News Feed. 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. We will spend time learning from this initial rollout and iterate based on findings in the future.”
In related news…
Facebook’s Creative Labs comes up with new ways to enhance the core Facebook experience and creates apps that focus on supporting the “diverse ways people want to connect and share.” I went over these apps and I picked the 5 most interesting and most useful ones.
Can you believe that people still fall for hoaxes like “Facebook will start charging you”? That’s one of several myths that people still believe in.
