Facebook's new reactions are nearly ready. Will users 'like' them?
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Corey Fedde Staff
Facebook has plans to scrap the now iconic and simple 鈥渓ike鈥� button in place of a more emotion-driven system. And the change could be coming soon.
Facebook engineers have been working on a new reaction system that will augment the 鈥渓ike鈥� system currently in place. The system will offer users the choice of six different reactions to show how they feel about a post: 鈥渓ove,鈥� 鈥渉aha,鈥� 鈥渨ow,鈥� 鈥渟ad,鈥� 鈥渁ngry,鈥� and the classic 鈥渓ike."聽
The change is designed to give users more options and to fix many of the limitations imposed by the simplified 鈥淟ike鈥� feature. If a Facebook user sees a post on their newsfeed about a tragedy or natural disaster, the current system becomes an issue 鈥撀燿o users 鈥淟ike鈥� the post to show acknowledgement or do they abstain so as not to 鈥渓ike鈥� bad news?
The new reaction system has the potential to give users alternatives, but how they will react to the change is still unknown: 鈥渨ow,鈥� 鈥渟ad,鈥� or 鈥渁ngry?鈥�
鈥淧eople don鈥檛 like to make many decisions鈥� on social media, Grace Abbot, a media and digital strategist with B/C Designers, tells 海角大神. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure there will be people who take advantage of the feature, but for the most part ... its too much."聽
Ms. Abbot says she sees people using the 鈥淟ike鈥� feature more as an indication of acknowledgement or to support a post than actually expressing an emotional response.
Facebook鈥檚 mixed history with website changes also points to the potential for a lukewarm acceptance of the reaction system from users.
Facebook as a website since its 2004 launch from founder Mark Zuckerberg鈥檚 dorm room. But since 2011 and the addition of the 鈥淭imeline鈥� feature, the website鈥檚 changes have been primarily aesthetic. Facebook鈥檚 growth as a company聽has been tied primarily to acquisitions, like Whatsapp and Instagram, or side projects like the Messenger app.听
When Facebook鈥檚 website has undergone change, its been met with resistance from avid users. In 2009, Facebook鈥檚 change to the homepage was met with a Facebook group called which garnered a little more than a million users, according to The Telegraph. The pressure has resulted in many potential changes to the website being scrapped before reaching an audience, including Facebook Chief Product Officer Chris Cox鈥檚 past project to revamp the News Feed.
鈥淚 think , is forcing itself to try things, and you need to be able to put things out there and try to learn,鈥� Mr. Cox told Bloomberg in reference to past mistakes. 鈥淧eople only get in trouble if they鈥檙e not honest about failure.鈥�
The reaction system has been tested in Spain, Ireland, Chile, the Philippines, Portugal, and Colombia. According to Wired, the new reactions will launch ."
鈥淭his was a feature that was right in the heart of the way you use Facebook, so it needed to be executed really well in order to not detract and clutter up the experience,鈥� Cox told Bloomberg.
