Last month, Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg announced a new development coming to the social media site, something users have been begging for for quite some time now, A Facebook "dislike" button.
"I think people have asked about the dislike button for many years. Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we're working on it and shipping it," Zuckerberg previously announced.
Now, the fabled Facebook dislike button had finally arrived - only, it's not what millions of Facebook users were expecting.
Facebook is currently testing a feature called "Facebook Reactions" which in reality, are emojis that users can use to convey what they felt about a certain post.
There are six emojis placed next to the traditional "Like" button. According to Tech Crunch, the emojis represent love, yay, wow, haha, sad and angry.
This was announced by Mark Zuckerberg in a short demonstration video featuring the Facebook reactions buttons.
"Meet the new Reactions," Zuckerberg wrote on his official Facebook page.
On the video's comment box, Facebook users had a variety of reactions over the announcement, some demanded the promised Facebook dislike button while others lauded the company for not giving in to the demand.
Mark Zuckerberg also emphasized that Facebook Reactions created to express empathy, rather than negativity that a mere dislike button might encourage.
"What (users) really want is the ability to express empathy," Zuckerberg said. "Not every moment is a good moment. 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,"
"Reactions gives you 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," he wrote.
Today we're launching a test of Reactions -- a more expressive Like button. 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.At a recent Townhall Q&A, I shared with our community that we've spent a lot of time thinking about the best way to give you better options for expressing yourself, while keeping the experience simple and respectful. Today we're starting to test this.Reactions gives you 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. We’re starting to test Reactions in Ireland and Spain and will learn from this before we bring the experience to everyone. We hope you like this – or can better express how you’re feeling!
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, October 8, 2015
