Express Yourself: Facebook Rolls Out “Reactions” Update Globally

After months of development, Facebook “Reactions” are finally available to use on the social networking site, taking your like game to a whole new level.

The company announced Wednesday that the new update is now available globally, which will make it easier for users to react to shared content with a six new emotions. Like, say, this very post. 

You’re still able to “Like” all of the photos and videos your friends share, but with the update you can also express different feelings with emoji-themed responses that represent Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, or Angry.

Unfortunately there’s still no “dislike” option to tell everyone how you really feel about seeing another photo of your aunt’s cat— perhaps that’s in the works for the next update.

According to the company’s blog, adding a reaction is very simple. If you’re accessing Facebook on your cell phone, all you have to do is hold down the “Like” button and the other emotions will pop up. The Reaction buttons will appear on desktops when users hover over the “Like” button.

So now when your best friend shares that she just got engaged, you can use the love button, or the angry button if you really don’t like who she’s dating.

Facebook Product Manager Sammi Krug labelled the Reactions as a “big change” and said the company conducted extensive research, including focus groups and surveys to determine which reactions people would use most.

Krug also added Facebook has been testing Reactions in a few markets since last year and has received nothing but positive feedback so far. (Apparently they don’t see the angry button as negative…)

But we give this update a stamp of approval if for no other reason than you’ll no longer have to look like a dick for liking a friend’s sad update status just to show support.

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