Do you ever feel uncomfortable “Liking” a friend’s Facebook status when it regards a family member passing away? Or when something embarrassing happens? With an upcoming update, Facebook users will be able to choose from different Reactions when responding to a post.
Engadget says Facebook has been working on Reactions for close to a year. Facebook listened to its audience and their requests for additional options besides Like. Mark Zuckerberg formed a team to build Reactions, which is headlined by project manager Sammi Krug.
“One of the things we really wanted to be careful of, is will this translate well” says Krug. “We wanted these reactions to be globally understood.”
Reactions will launch with support for five icons. Those are “Love,” “Haha,” “Wow,” “Sad,” and “Angry.” Once Facebook gathers feedback on those, more will be on the way. To use Reactions, press and hold on the Reaction button and then choose an icon. The three most used Reactions on a post will be featured alongside the Like button.
It is smart of Facebook to begin with a low number of Reaction icons. They can monitor the feedback and add or subtract icons as necessary. Plus users will not feel overwhelmed with too many options.
There have been questions on whether a Dislike button could be added in the future. Zuckerberg shot this down in a town hall Q&A session, saying, “That doesn’t seem like the kind of community that we want to create.”
