Facebook has announced that Reactions, six small animated emojis, are finally rolling out as official additions to the Like button.
The global rollout follows on from a period of intense local testing in Spain, Ireland, Chile and a number of other countries. Well that testing is now over and according to a report by Bloomberg the new Reactions will be arriving on Facebook in the coming weeks.
The decision hasn't come lightly, according to Bloomberg's in-depth report the decision to update the Like button was one that involved consultation with sociologists to carefully create a range of emotions that could accurately capture huge variety of posts that are placed on Facebook.
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Zuckerberg admitted in a statement along with the video of Reactions that this was very deliberately designed as an alternative to the Dislike button, a feature that users have long been asking for.
"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."
When you first start seeing Reactions on the desktop and in the app you'll only see a Like button. Simply hold down on the Like button and the new range of Reactions will appear.
You then simply slide along and pick the most appropriate one. Users can then see a small number underneath each of the Reactions that have been used so they can gauge quickly the general feeling about what has been posted.