Find yourself feeling a bit heated at the political articles your buddy incessantly pollutes your Facebook newsfeed with? Maybe that meme making the rounds deserves a little more than a mere “like.” Well you’re in luck, because Facebook finally unveiled its revamped “like” features—now designated as “reactions.”
Back in September I wrote about the long-rumored “dislike” button reportedly headed to a timeline near you, and Facebook’s new “reactions” appears to be the result. The new feature allows users to display a wider variety of responses to posts in the form of emojis—“love,” “wow,” “haha,” “sad” and “angry” now accompany the ubiquitous “like” button. It’s not a sweeping representation of the range of human emotion, but hey: it’s a start.
One of the more clever aspects of the reaction buttons is that they act like GIFs once you hover over them, providing an animated reaction. It’s a neat addition to the Facebook interface.
As with most of the new features that Facebook puts in place, the new reaction buttons came without warning. One morning you’re liking posts per usual, the next you’re clicking the “love” button on John Oliver’s latest segment.
Facebook does not sit still. There are new features constantly in the works or in the pipeline, and reactions is a unique extension to a platform that refuses to be complacent.
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