New Facebook Reactions: Don’t Just ‘Like’ It

ERIN KIM
Staff Writer

On Feb. 24, Facebook launched five new ‘reaction’ buttons: love, haha, wow, sad, and angry. According to Facebook Newsroom, the corporation had conducted global research to determine which kinds of reactions people would most want to use and they came up with these five reactions. Initially, this new feature was launched in 2015 only in specific countries, including Ireland, for testing but it was officially released in other countries after gaining positive feedback. Facebook users can now access this novel feature on their phones and computers by holding down on the thumbs up symbol to view the reactions.

Those who have had Facebook accounts for several years may find that this new and sudden change devalues the traditional ‘like’ button that Facebook is known for. However, this new extension allows users to become more expressive with how they feel about certain posts. Someone can now respond to any post on Facebook with the traditional thumbs-up for “like,” a heart for “love,” a laughing face for “haha,” a surprised, gaping face for “wow,” a frown accompanied by a tear for “sad,” or a glaring, reddening face for “angry.”

Facebookers no longer have to react to a post using the ever so ambiguous ‘like’ button. These individual reactions are extremely beneficial for people who wish to express themselves appropriately in inappropriate situations. Facebookers can use the ‘love’ button to react to a friend’s post about getting accepted into an exceptional college. The angry button acts as a ‘dislike’ button for the posts that leave Facebook users feeling annoyed or indignant. The ‘haha’ button is helpful in communicating just how funny a post may be, helping to divide the line between the posts that elicit little chuckles and the ones that make people laugh out loud. But the ‘sad’ button in particular is most handy. Now people on Facebook don’t have to feel guilty over ‘liking’ a friend’s post about her recently deceased turtle.