Facebook users have been clamoring for a "dislike" button for quite a while now. One big reason for this is to provide empathy to people's posts. The limited nature of the "like" button would come off as tactless in certain situations. A grim example would be a status update about someone misfortune. Liking it gives off the wrong idea but friends would like to express their sentiments anyway.
Vox quoted Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's reaction to a public Q&A about a new feature that would reflect more emotions than just the "like". He said, "What [users] really want to express is empathy. Not every moment is a good moment, right? And if you are sharing something that's sad, like whether it's something in current events like the refugee crisis that touches you or a family member passed away, then it may not be comfortable to 'like' that post."
To address this, Zuckerberg is experimenting with "Reactions" to provide a little more emotional depth to interactions made on Facebook, Engadget reported. The experiment makes available seven emojis: Like, Love, Haha, Yay, Wow, Sad, and Angry. This new feature is currently being tested in Ireland and Spain. Long-pressing the like button will display the new emojis.
The new "Reactions" are the perfect middle ground between the positive-almost-to-a-fault like feature and Facebook stickers. Having these many options as reactions while on Facebook makes using it more personal and captures emotions a whole lot more.
Facebook is pretty much just catching up with other platforms which already feature more than just a "like," Washington Post reported. If the experiment in Ireland and Spain prove to be successful, then we can expect Facebook to roll out the feature to the billions of its users in the world.
If you enjoyed this article, feel free to share it and get your Facebook friends to show their support for the new emojis!
