‘Wow,’ ‘Haha’: Facebook Rolls Out New ‘Reactions’ Buttons

Facebook members have long called for a dislike button and the new options – called “Reactions” by Facebook – are the closest thing. Considering the amount of different languages Facebook supports and the different cultures in which the social network is used, it took significant effort to decide on a set of reactions that would translate well throughout the world. (On the desktop web, you can also access them by hovering over the Like button.) But to help you find the feature, Facebook will pop up a tip inside the app to show you how it works.

Facebook said on Wednesday that “Reactions”, an extension of the “Like” button, was now available worldwide. They worked with sociologists, consulted focus groups and conducted surveys to determine which emotions would make the final cut. “Everyone’s had one of these posts in News Feed where they’re like, I want to respond in some way, but “like” doesn’t feel appropriate at all”, says Tom Alison, director of engineering for the News Feed.

“We wanted to be really, really careful about which reactions we [launched]”, she told CNNMoney in an interview last week.

On Wednesday, a Facebook rolled out a new update that allows users to react in five different ways outside the classic “like”.

Reactions marks one of the biggest changes to the Facebook platform since its inception 12 years ago -right up there with News Feed and Timeline.