After years of asking for it, Facebook is finally giving the people what they want. Soon, users may have the option to express more than just “like,” in a new expressive way with emojis.
An emoji is a cartoon e-character used in social media to represent emotions (i.e. ??????). They can be facial expressions, holiday symbols or other icons.
In September, Zuckerberg addressed the launch of a test “dislike” button-like feature during a Q&A at Facebook headquarters in sunny California. Zuckerberg said that this button would act as more of an “empathy” button allowing users to show compassion for a sad moment shared online. Hitting the “like” feature for sad posts can feel uncomfortable and confusing. Messages using a “like” generally get lost in translation, with people not being able to correctly interpret what you wanted to express.
More recently, Chris Cox, Facebook’s chief product officer, released a Facebook post stating that the company would be testing “Reactions.” “Reactions” are six new emoji features that will be available for closed test groups in Ireland and Spain. After studying comments and reactions that are popularly displayed across Facebook, it was found that love, laughter, happiness, shock, sadness and anger were common themes on the platform.
“Reactions” are projected to be an alternative to the “dislike” button. In September, Zuckerberg expressed that he believes a “dislike” button would be difficult to create and may create a culture of down voting and criticism on Facebook. “Reactions” will help in giving people more outlets to express feelings on posts and pages in a more helpful way. This new feature is supposed to full the void of the “dislike” button.
What could “Reactions” mean for businesses? Well, these new emojis could help put a face to the way our consumer’s think. By using “Reactions” as a gauge for customer satisfaction, we can identify what people think about our business. Businesses can identify what people love, but also reveal what people are shocked, saddened and angered by, and fix the problem.
Empathy is an important human emotion to capitalize on in regards to customer relations and Facebook is assisting in helping businesses expose what customers are expressing through emojis.
How many “Reactions” will it take to solve this “dislike” button quandary? We’ll have to wait and see. Only ? will tell.