Facebook has now launched its brand new ‘Reactions’ on Facebook, allowing users to be able to simply show their emotions from choosing from six different emoji type reactions. The six different ‘Reactions’ include ‘Haha’, ‘Wow’, ‘Sad’ and ‘Angry’. Facebook have said that the in-house emoji’s will “give you more ways to share your reaction to a post in a quick and easy way.”
To access these Reactions on a desktop, all you need to do is hover over the Like button and the emoji’s will appear. However, on mobile and tablet, you need to hold down the Like button.
The Reactions were originally tested in Spain and Ireland, and first included a Yay and Confused reaction to choose from. However, in both cases, users who posted the reaction once were unlikely to use it again.
These new Reactions have widely changed the way many will now approach social media, and will give an easy way to share your opinion without having to take the time to write a comment.
Facebook have spent a year in the working to launch these new Reactions and have worked alongside sociologists, conducting surveys to understand what emoji’s work best.
The only thing missing from these reactions is the long awaited ‘Dislike’ button, making Facebook a place where you can like posts up or down. However, Mark Zuckerberg has said “That doesn’t seem like the kind of community that we want to create”.
The main disadvantage could be that people may find the new reactions unhelpful or pointless. However, even if only a few Wow and Haha a day, it will give advertisers much clearer data of what works best for their customers.