Facebook's New 'Reactions' Feature Launches to Mixed Reviews
Alex Whittler, CBS 2 Intern
CHICAGO (CBS) — How many times does a friend post something on Facebook you can relate to, but "liking" it wouldn't convey the right feeling?
Today the social network released a new way to express emotions. Now, along with "like," you can select "Love," "Haha," "Wow," "Sad," or "Angry" for a post.
They're called Facebook reactions and they're aimed at making quick online interactions more authentic.
To see the new emoticons, hover over the "like" button on a Facebook post. The other options then appear.
Users have been asking for a "dislike" button for a while. This appears to be Facebook's response.
Introducing ReactionsToday is our worldwide launch of Reactions -- the new Like button with more ways to express yourself. Not every moment you want to share is happy. Sometimes you want to share something sad or frustrating. Our community has been asking for a dislike button for years, but not because people want to tell friends they don't like their posts. People wanted to express empathy and make it comfortable to share a wider range of emotions. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the right way to do this with our team. One of my goals was to make it as simple as pressing and holding the Like button. The result is Reactions, which allow you to express love, laughter, surprise, sadness or anger. Love is the most popular reaction so far, which feels about right to me!
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, February 24, 2016
According to Tech Insider, Facebook reactions had been only available in seven countries: Ireland, Chile, Spain, Portugal, Japan, Colombia and the Philippines for the past few months. Now the feature is global.
Not everyone is happy about the change. "I find them a bit odd and distracting," says Chicagoan David Quinn.
Tracey Becker disagrees, "I love them. I have always hated clicking "like" on a horrible topic."
The change comes after Twitter modified its "favorite" capability from a star to a heart icon in November. This too was met with mixed reviews.