Facebook rolls out expanded ‘reactions’

SAN FRANCISCO: Now you can do more than just “like” something on Facebook.

The social media giant on Wednesday rolled out its new expanded “reactions” feature which allows its users to express a range of emotions – “like, love, haha, wow, sad or angry.”

Facebook had been testing ways to expand the “like” button amid user complaints that it was not always appropriate, especially in cases of tragic events.

“We’ve been listening to people and know that there should be more ways to easily and quickly express how something you see in News Feed makes you feel,” said product manager Sammi Krug in a blog post.

“That’s why today we are launching Reactions, an extension of the Like button, to give you more ways to share your reaction to a post in a quick and easy way.”

The familiar “like” button with a thumbs-up image will still be there, alongside the new emoticon icons.

“We understand that this is a big change, and want to be thoughtful about rolling this out,” Krug said.

“For more than a year we have been conducting global research including focus groups and surveys to determine what types of reactions people would want to use most. We also looked at how people are already commenting on posts and the top stickers and emoticons as signals for the types of reactions people are already using to determine which reactions to offer.”

The expanded reactions had been tested in several markets and is now rolling out globally, Krug said.