When the world finally thought they would be getting a “dislike” button on Facebook, it turns out we were wrong. Instead, people will be given something a little more interesting. Facebook recently announced a new feature (currently being tested only in Ireland and Spain) that will allow you to choose from six different emojis, as well as the like button, to respond to posts.
That’s right, no more having to spell out what you want to say. You can still comment using words or you can simply choose one of the six emojis to say how you feel. Let’s take a little more in-depth look at the newest addition to Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg hinted back in September that something new might be coming to Facebook but he remained mum about it. What most people thought was going to be a thumbs down icon, these six emojis that are introduced are called “Reactions”. These emojis will allow people to respond in an easier and quicker way to a post.
There are always those situations where you don’t want to like a post (someone having relationship issues, oversharing, etc.) so these “reactions” will let the person know how you really feel without saying a word. Zuckerberg stated in a town hall meeting last month that
“What they really want is the ability to express empathy,” Zuckerberg said. “Not every moment is a good moment.” Your reaction emojis include “love”, “haha”, “wow”, “yay”, “sad” and “angry”. This feature will be available for both mobile devices and desktops.
As of now, there are no plans of adding these icons to Messenger or any other Facebook owned product. Facebook will also notify you for each emotion that is chosen by other users. That could potentially lead to many notifications which might get a little bothersome.
Unfortunately, there will be no option to turn off responses just like any other time you “like” or comment on a post. There was consideration of being able to turn off the responses but Facebook’s Director of Product, Adam Mosseri, said, “If you think about the user experience first, that option could become confusing, with people thinking something was broken instead.”
For those who are fans of GIF’s, you are in luck; the emojis move around. Who does not love those? One may ask, “Why did they choose these emojis”? In a statement from Facebook Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, he said, “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”.
The emojis pretty much sum up any type of emotion that one may have so they hit the nail right on the head with the choices. Depending on the results from users in Ireland and Spain, this will determine if everyone will be able to start using this feature, if some things need to be tweaked or fixed, or if the feature will just fall to the side.
If people think about it, these new icons might not actually be the most amazing addition to Facebook. Technically, all people have to do is just use any emoji or sticker of their choosing in the comment section of a post and post it. This is typically what people usually do so it would basically be the same exact thing.
Basically, this would not be that big of an upgrade or anything worthy of being excited about. For new upgrades, this is probably one of the most generic and not well thought out ones. In general, this is a different approach to reacting to someone’s post. Having six icons to choose from will allow the masses (if this is effective) to express their emotions if they do not want to like a post.
If you want to see how this new potential feature will work, there are videos and tutorials online explaining and demonstrating the new upgrade. It might not be the brightest idea to come out of Facebook but the new emojis will probably get the job done.
Elizabeth Granato
Features Editor
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