The time has FINALLY come. I know we've all been waiting for this day at LEAST since last September when Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook was looking into new emotion buttons to give users options other than just "liking" a post. For awhile, that feature was only available in Ireland and Spain. Finally, this week, they have been released to the US!
Ever since that September hint toward new reaction emotions, many tech blogs have speculated that a "dislike" button might come. While there is no "dislike" button yet, the new reaction buttons cover a larger range of emotions. You might have noticed that now when you hover over the "thumbs up" to like a picture, several other emotion options pop-up, including:
HEART: Meaning you "love" this
LAUGH FACE: Means "haha!"
SURPRISED FACE: Means "Wow"
SAD FACE: Obviously, means you're sad
ANGRY FACE: Meaning the content makes you angry
Does that cover the gamut of emotions? Seems to me that these emotions - especially the "wow" and "angry" ones, indicate that Facebook is set on solidifying itself as a popular place for news, as they conjure up a perfect reaction to many editorial articles and headlines. But did they really need to go from ONE emotion to SIX!? Looking through my Facebook feed, I have mostly seen the use of the "love" button and less of the "wow" button. Certainly, the sad button will be helpful now so that we don't have to "like" negative news the other friends share such as losing a job or a loved one.
It'll be interesting to see if Facebook keeps all six emotions, or alternates them, similar to how SnapChat alternates its filters. I predict that they will test which are used the most and we could see a day where the least used emotions are replaced with other options.
OK, so what are your thoughts on the long-awaited emotions? Do you give them a "WOW" or are you "SAD" about the change?
