Following speculation about how Facebook would add a new ‘dislike button’, the social network has revealed it is testing six additional emojis to its ‘like’ button, dubbed ‘Reactions’. Today we're launching a test of Reactions — a more expressive Like button. The Like button has been a part of Facebook for a long time. Billions […]
Following speculation about how Facebook would add a new ‘dislike button’, the social network has revealed it is testing six additional emojis to its ‘like’ button, dubbed ‘Reactions’.
Today we're launching a test of Reactions — a more expressive Like button. The Like button has been a part of Facebook for a long time. Billions of Likes are made every day, and Liking things is a simple way to express yourself.For many years though, people have asked us to add a "dislike" button. Not every moment is a good moment, and sometimes you just want a way to express empathy. These are important moments where you need the power to share more than ever, and a Like might not be the best way to express yourself.At a recent Townhall Q&A, I shared with our community that we've spent a lot of time thinking about the best way to give you better options for expressing yourself, while keeping the experience simple and respectful. Today we're starting to test this.Reactions gives you new ways to express love, awe, humor and sadness. It's not a dislike button, but it does give you the power to easily express sorrow and empathy — in addition to delight and warmth. You’ll be able to express these reactions by long pressing or hovering over the Like button. We’re starting to test Reactions in Ireland and Spain and will learn from this before we bring the experience to everyone. We hope you like this – or can better express how you’re feeling!
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, 8 October 2015
In a blog post, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg explained that this idea is just about giving users more options to express themselves.
Alongside ‘Like’ users can now express love, laughter, anger, sadness, shock, congratulations with the click of a button.
The test is currently limited to users in Ireland and Spain, and the feature could roll out to the rest of the billion plus Facebook users soon.
The news also means that any official support for dislike is never going to be in the plans.
The addition of new emotion buttons could present some serious challenges to brands. Overall, clicking the “like” button remains the most popular action on Facebook, with 7 in 10 active users doing this each month, according to Global Web Index.
However, almost a fifth are “un-liking” products or brands and about 1 in 10 are posting critical comments. Although it’s only small minorities who are currently undertaking these more negative actions, it’s not hard to see the potential difficulties which could accompany the introduction of a button that allows people to express negative sentiments in a quick and simple way.
Source: Global Web Index
