Beyond “Like”: Facebook rolls out “Reactions” feature

That’s well below the 2M+ claimed by Facebook proper, but more than the 130K claimed by Twitter as of Q4.

To add a reaction simply hold down the Like button on the mobile app or hover over the Like button on desktop to see the reaction image options – then tap the one you fancy. “This represents how people are using Facebook”.

In addition to “like”, the five new emoji will let Facebook users to express “love”, “haha”, “wow”, “sad” or “angry”. Initially, if a user uses a positive reaction, Facebook will infer the user wants to see more of that type of post, much like a like.

For years, Facebook resisted giving users an alternative to the “like” button, namely a “dislike” button.

In the less than 24 hours since the release, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the love emoticon has been used the most, but for those of you who don’t like change, don’t worry…the like button is still there and is still the fastest option to acknowledge a post. It still concluded it would not include the often requested “Dislike” button. Give us your reaction in the comments.

“We’re going to watch and see how people use it”, he stressed. “We’ve wanted to make sure the product is lightweight, simple and understandable”. The test expanded to other countries such as Chile, the Philippines, Portugal and Colombia. “The more reactions we add, the more complicated it gets”. We tried to narrow down a core set of reactions that we tried to create, and we talked to various Facebook users to get their feedback.

Part of the need for the Reactions feature was the fact that users would report they’d “feel a little bit awkward” about “liking” posts about sick relatives or a lost pet, Alison said. Eventually content producers and publishers will get more granular detail on how people are responding emotionally to posts.