Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated, “For many years though, people have asked us to add a “dislike” button”.
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And by giving consumers more ways to express their emotions, Facebook is introducing more nuance to its platform than it would with a simple Dislike button.
Chris Toss, Facebook product manager, said Reactions would give users greater ways of engaging with stories and content. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) hopes that this will end the requests for a Dislike button.
To use the feature, simply long-press the like button then six reactions will pop-up then choose the most appropriate “reaction” you would like to express. Haha or Sad? Or just Yay or Wow?
We’re (Ireland and Spain) being used as test cases at the moment, giving Facebook handy readings on two of the major languages spoken by its users.
The “Like” button was rolled out in 2009 and enables 1.49 billion Facebook users to express positive reactions.
Simply hold the traditional “like” button down for half a second and the options will appear on a pop-up menu. “We hope you like this or can better express how you’re feeling!” The test is scheduled to begin on Friday and the company has chosen Ireland and Spain for the test.
There’ll be little trackers underneath the post that will rack up how many of each reaction its received, in a similar way to how “Likes” are counted now.
Instead of offering up the “Dislike” button people have been clamoring for, the social media giant has made a decision to ramp up emoji faces with emotionally-relevant animation and attach them to six new reaction options for posts, in addition to the typical thumbs-up “like”.
The emojis themselves are created to be emphatic, whereas a dislike button could be seen as harsh or negative feedback.
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“Liking” something on Facebook also plays a key role in the social network’s algorithm, allowing users to see content they regularly engage with and enabling targeted advertising.
