Facebook releases Reactions feature

Facebook+has+added+five+new+Reaction+options+in+addition+to+being+able+to+like+posts.+The+feature+was+released+worldwide+on+Feb.+24.

Facebook has added five new Reaction options in addition to being able to “like” posts. The feature was released worldwide on Feb. 24.

by Sahana Srinivasan, Asst. STEM Editor

Facebook released Reactions worldwide on Feb. 24, adding options for “love, haha, wow, sad or angry” to the traditional “like” and “comment” features.

“Not every moment you want to share is happy. Sometimes you want to share something sad or frustrating,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. “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.”

This global implementation followed a limited release of the emoticons last year, which Facebook used as a trial period to receive feedback about the changes, which according to their press release, was positive overall. Facebook has also been testing out the buttons with research groups and surveys to determine the best array of reaction options.

Users can hover over the “like” button on desktop computers and hold down the button on mobile devices to see the new reaction options. Mark Zuckerberg stated in a Facebook post that the company’s goal was to insert the reaction buttons and to be able to use them in the simplest way possible.

fb_anim

“They did a very good job with making it smooth, but I think it might overcomplicate things,” Amy Dunphy (10) said. “Now it’s kind of a struggle — which one do I put, do I just put a normal “like” [and] is that socially acceptable?”

All posts now show the total number of reactions, rather than likes, as well as the three most popular reactions and their respective total tallies.

“It’s a great way to express your feelings for the photo and not just a like button because you could feel different emotions towards the photo, like if you love it or you think it’s really funny. I think it’s a really good [idea],” Taylor Lam (9) said.

Facebook has stated that the new options will give advertisers and posters additional insight into their audience’s viewpoints and opinions.

Although Facebook’s news feed algorithms currently treat all reactions as the same when prioritizing posts, Product Manager Sammi Krug announced in a Facebook blog post that the company hopes to eventually develop an algorithm that recognizes differences in users’ reaction choices to improve the relevance of posts in users’ news feeds.