Every day, people come to Facebook to discover what’s happening in their world and around the world, and to share all kinds of things, whether that’s updates that are happy, sad, funny or thought-provoking.
Facebook today is releasing “Reactions” to the rest of the world. The feature isn’t so much a new tool as it is an extension of an existing one; by long-pressing—or, on a computer, hovering—over the “like” button, users can now access five additional animated emoji with which to express themselves. Six symbols will appear, and you can click on them to react to a post. When you hover over a reaction, a word will appear above it to let you know what the reaction means: “like,” “ha ha,” “love,” “wow,” “sad” and “angry.”
The mission to build Reactions began just over a year ago. Mark Zuckerberg had finally conceded that the platform needed a more nuanced way for users to interact with posts, for the obvious reason that not every post is likable.
Facebook has been testing Reactions since last year and have received positive feedback so far. Now Facebook reactions is open to everyone who uses Facebook around the world. ‘We will continue learning and listening to feed to make sure we have a set of reactions that will be useful for everyone. We hope you enjoy the new Reactions’, said officials.
“We know it’s a big change,” said Facebook product manager Sammi Krug in an announcement today. That’s right—Facebook is taking its relationship with you to the next level. From now on, you’ll be allowed to respond to posts with reactions other than the ubiquitous thumbs up emoji that means “like.”
Here’s a breakdown of what each symbol means:
Like: The original reaction to a Facebook post. With the new reactions, this just means you’re fine with whatever post is shared.
Love: You really, really like a post. Or love it, even.
Ha-ha: A post either made you laugh — whether it was literally or just in your head — or you think it’s funny in some way.
Wow: You’re amazed by this post. It was a cool recipe, viral video, an amazing sunset picture or something similar
Sad: There’s nothing to like about a post that makes you cry. A story about a friend’s sick family member or pet warrants this reaction.
Angry: This is the closest that Facebook may get to the highly requested “dislike” button. If a post sparks outrage in you, react with this.