You Can Do Way More Than “Like” a Facebook Status Very Soon

Facebook first announced the new emoji emotions last fall as a new way for the social network to let you quickly respond to statuses or photos with more nuance than a “like”.

The company put the new options to the test during the Paris terrorist attacks in November – during which users employed the new variety of reactions rather than having to stick to Like.

Cox made it clear that the Like button isn’t going anywhere; instead these five other emotions are an extension to the Like button, a way for Facebook users to express them a bit further. For those who haven’t heard about Reactions before they are basically emojis that allow users to interact with posts on Facebook in different manners as opposed to just clicking on a Like button. A spokesperson told Bloomberg that they made a decision to axe the planned sixth “yay” button, because “it was not universally understood”.

The new emoticons that make up Facebook Reactions were selected by chief product officer Chris Cox. As you can see, it’s not a “dislike” button, though we hope it addresses the spirit of this request more broadly.

We’re now on the cusp of Reactions, a feature that will expand upon Facebook’s like button with a handful of common responses.

So Facebook has finally decided on our new universal visual vocabulary, and with it’s eyes on both India and Europe’s internet, it looks like there’s no area of communication that Facebook doesn’t want to take control of.