Users immediately took to the social media site, speculating that the company was working on a “dislike” button. You’ll be able to express these reactions by long pressing or hovering over the Like button.
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Chris Cox, chief product officer at Facebook, confirmed the news in a post on Thursday. Unfortunately, this will begin testing today only in Ireland and Spain, but it is expected to roll out across other countries soon enough. Instead of a simple button providing an opposite response to the “like” button, users will have a series of six emojis called “Reactions”, in addition to the original “like” button, from which to choose.
Facebook made a lot of headlines earlier this year after suggesting that their “like” button was not enough.
That said, users are encouraged to keep in mind that is not uncommon for Facebook to change a few of the features in the experimental stage, such as this one.
As Zuckerberg explains- “Reactions gives you new ways to express love, awe, humor and sadness”.
Facebook Inc started publicly testing new options besides its iconic “like” button, letting its members use emoji to express themselves with a couple of keystrokes. Though we hope it addresses the spirit of this request more broadly. The company had always been asked for a “dislike” button, but wanted to avoid something that negative.
Facebook launched these features in Ireland and Spain in a pilot test. All the desktop, Android and iOS users will be able to give their feedback about this new feature.
Zuckerberg commented: “Not every moment is a good moment, and sometimes you just want a way to express empathy”.
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Reactions will be tested for a while and could end up being added for the social network’s 1.49 billion monthly active users soon. Here’s what are, for lack of a better description, the new Facebook emoji that may replace your like button.
