After several users asked for a "Dislike" button for a while now, Facebook did deliver - but just not how people expected it to be.
Instead of an actual dislike button - similar to the actual "Like" button, Facebook announced that everyone's getting "Reactions," which consists of six new emojis representing various feelings.
What are these feelings? Love, Haha, Yay, Wow, Sad, and Angry.
Mark Zuckerberg gave hints last month that the Like button will be expanded, after years of users demanding for a Dislike button. "I think people have asked about the dislike button for many years. Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we're working on it and shipping it," said Zuckerberg.
Meet the new Reactions.
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, October 8, 2015
However, Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook team didn't deliver on an actual "dislike" button in the fear of bullying and bad feelings that may arise. In a video posted earlier today, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote:
"For many years though, people have asked us to add a "dislike" button. Not every moment is a good moment, and sometimes you just want a way to express empathy. These are important moments where you need the power to share more than ever, and a Like might not be the best way to express yourself."
He continued:
"Reactions gives you new ways to express love, awe, humor and sadness. It's not a dislike button, but it does give you the power to easily express sorrow and empathy - in addition to delight and warmth. You'll be able to express these reactions by long pressing or hovering over the Like button."
Zuckerberg ended the post by saying, "We're starting to test Reactions in Ireland and Spain and will learn from this before we bring the experience to everyone. We hope you like this - or can better express how you're feeling!"
Today we’re launching a pilot test of Reactions — a more expressive Like button. As you can see, it’s not a “dislike” button, though we hope it addresses the spirit of this request more broadly. We studied which comments and reactions are most commonly and universally expressed across Facebook, then worked to design an experience around them that was elegant and fun. Starting today Ireland and Spain can start loving, wow-ing, or expressing sympathy to posts on Facebook by hovering or long-pressing the Like button wherever they see it. We’ll use the feedback from this to improve the feature and hope to roll it out to everyone soon.
Posted by Chris Cox on Thursday, October 8, 2015
