The social network added five new buttons, in addition to the 'like', to use in the publications; with this it aims to give more expression tools to users.
NEW YORK - Now you can do much more than just like a Facebook post. "I love it", "It amuses me", "It amazes me", "It saddens me" and "It makes me angry" are the five new buttons that people can click when responding to a post on the social network.
Anyone using Facebook can choose any of these reactions in addition to "Like" when commenting or sharing something.
If you are using your phone, the new buttons will display when you press and hold the "Like" button. If you are on a computer, you will see them when you hover over the "Like" button.
Researchers, engineers, and the Facebook product team spent more than a year preparing so-called "reactions." They worked with sociologists, consulted discussion groups, and conducted surveys to determine which emoticons would be used. They also studied stickers and most popular emojis on the platform looking for clues.
According to Sammi Krug, Product Manager, the two main challenges were narrowing down the set of possible reactions and making sure emojis were "universally understood and equally useful."
“We wanted to be very, very careful about the reactions [that we activated], he toldCNNMoney in interview in mid-February. "Are we giving people more tools to express themselves more accurately and authentically?"
Before the world premiere on Wednesday 24 February, the "reactions" they were working in the accounts of users in Spain, Ireland, Chile, the Philippines and some other countries. According to Krug, the initial reactions were positive and "I love it" has been the most popular.
"I'm excited" (a happy face with closed eyes) was ruled out after testing determined that not everyone understood its meaning. "That was one of the biggest surprises," Krug said.
This set of responses is missing a "I don't like" button, an option that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the company, hinted in september.
However, activating a "dislike" button would have created the risk of Facebook becoming a place where people vote for or against a post.
"It doesn't seem like that's the kind of community we want to create," Zuckerberg said during a question and answer session.
"Reactions" is one of the most important changes that the Facebook platform has undergone since it was created 12 years ago and it lives up to the Notifications and the Timeline.
As with those features, this change represents another attempt to keep Facebook current and deepen people's bond with the website and app.
At worst, some users might find the new options confusing or useless. But even if a few million people say they "love it" or laugh a few times a day, it is still a lot of new information and generating the revenue for Facebook and its advertisers.
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