During a town hall Q&A at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a declaration that could hugely change the way the social network’s nearly 1.5 billion users use the site: that Facebook is working on a type of “dislike” button.
“People have asked about the dislike button for many years,” he said. “We’ve finally heard you and we’re working on this and we will deliver something that meets the needs of the larger community.”
Today Facebook has announced that they are launching a test of Reactions — a more expressive Like button, a kind of empathy button, a way to acknowledge significant life events when you see bad news from a friend on your feed.
“The Like button has been a part of Facebook for a long time. Billions of Likes are made every day, and Liking things is a simple way to express yourself. For many years though, people have asked us to add a “dislike” button. Not every moment is a good moment, and sometimes you just want a way to express empathy. These are important moments where you need the power to share more than ever, and a Like might not be the best way to express yourself,” said Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Facebook.
He also added that, Facebook was starting to test this reactions that will give Facebook users a 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” he added.
That experience currently include emoji for “like, love, haha, yay, wow, sad, and angry.” You can deploy them on updates from your friends, Pages you follow, and brands you like.
Facebook also confirmed that it had begun testing “Reactions,” six emoji that express a range of emotions beyond what a simple thumb can in Ireland and Spain and will learn from this before they bring the experience to everyone.
