Facebook's New Buttons Yield Mixed Reaction on Social Media
Facebook users were introduced Wednesday morning to five new options for interacting with posts, photos, articles and more. In addition to the Like button, Facebook users on both mobile devices and computers can now click the Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, or Angry buttons.
It Took a Year to Pick the Emotions
Facebook spent over a year trying to figure out what buttons should be added to interact with posts, CNN Money reports. The social media company studied the popular emojis used on their site, consulted with sociologists, held focus groups and distributed surveys to decide which emotions would join the generic Like reaction.
The update is a response to site users who wanted more options to interact with posts. A Like is not always appropriate for every post that appears on Facebook, but people still want to interact with what their friends are posting.
Love Emotion Is Popular Already
The new emotions added to Facebook are called Reactions, and they were already available in Spain, Ireland, Chile, the Philippines and a few other countries before being rolled out worldwide on Wednesday. So far, people are reacting positively to the new emotion options. The most popular Reaction so far has been the Love button.
No Dislike Button Yet
Facebook decided not to offer a Dislike button because CEO Mark Zuckerberg thought that it would turn the social network into a site where trending popularity was based on up and down votes. Zuckerberg said he did not want that, despite the fact a Dislike button was among the additions users requested most.
"That doesn't seem like the kind of community that we want to create," Zuckerberg said during a town hall Q&A.
Mixed Reactions on Twitter
Here is what some people are saying about Reactions on Twitter.
One particular insight was offered by Carl Franzen, the online director for Popular Science, who compared the Love button on Facebook to the Like button on Twitter.
Two seconds of using Facebook’s new Reactions button, and Twitter’s heart already seems so limited by comparison.
— Carl Franzen (@carlfranzen) February 24, 2016
I will have to cut my Twitter time by approximately 10 hrs/day. Need extra time to choose from the 6 (SIX) new reactions on Facebook! — Marian T. Wirth (@mtwirth) February 24, 2016
When Facebook finally gives us Reactions... but there's still no dislike button option.
I’ve had the new Facebook reactions for 20 minutes and I already accidentally “wow”ed the status of someone I haven’t talked to in 10 years
— Megan Hess (@mhess4) February 24, 2016
When I hear that Facebook now has "Emoji Reactions"... pic.twitter.com/nZV8pe7hpa — tristantales (@tristantales) February 24, 2016
@facebook launched new #reactions today. It's going to take some getting used to.
— Max Braun (@IAmMaxBraun) February 24, 2016
oh god the new facebook reactions are here and they're terrifying — casey morell (@csymrl) February 24, 2016
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