The social network released on Wednesday 5 new “Reactions” buttons as an extension of the traditional “Like“. These new emoji’s will allow users to express more than just liking the post. Now, they could say it makes them feel sad surprised or angry with a simple click.
For years, Facebook’s users have claimed the company to add a “dislike” button to express themselves when they don’t like a post. The Social Network even considered it back in September but the topic unleashed a debate over whether it would increase cyber bullying and negativity on the site.
Instead of implementing the “dislike” button the company decided to include extra buttons which could express another type of feeling, so, in October last year, the company began testing a suite of six emoji complements to the like button in Ireland and Spain. The pilot included “love,” “haha,” “yay,” “wow,” “sad,” and “angry.” Unfortunately, “yay” missed the cut apparently because the company’s testing revealed that people found it vague.
Facebook’s new reaction buttons consist of five animated emoticons that pop up when the “Like” button is held down on mobile devices. You can choose between: Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry to better express your opinion about a post.
“Not every moment is a good moment, and sometimes you just want a way to express empathy and make it comfortable to share a wider range of emotions,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page. “Reactions gives you new ways to express love, awe, humor and sadness,” he added.
Of course, allowing users to express better is not the only purpose behind “reactions”. The company said it will also use the emoticons to track user behavior and for ad delivery.
User’s post screamed, “Where is the dislike button?”
Just a few hours after its released, the feature received mixed reviews from users on social networking sites. Some people complained because they could not see the new emoticons, but other expressed unconformity that Facebook did not launch a “dislike” button.
Source: Reuters