Instead of just “liking” a post on Facebook, you can now also indicate whether it makes you feel Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, or Angry.
No instructions are given for how to select an emotion; users are left to discover it by hovering over the “Like” button. That isn’t quite accurate, if you think about it – you access the “Sad” option through the word “Like”!
But if Facebook had made the reactions accessible another way, users might not think to look for them. By grouping them all under the “Like” button, Facebook made it possible for you to discover the feature while following your normal workflow for reacting to a post. Sometimes the design choice that “makes sense” isn’t the one that will make a feature easiest for people to use – in this case, user experience trumps logic. And perhaps Facebook will update the workflow in the future once Facebookers are used to the fact that they have multiple options for emotional reactions.
Another aspect of the new feature also lacks instructions: In what situations is it appropriate to use each reaction? The answer to that question will evolve over time, but check out the Washington Post’s guide to using Facebook’s new Reactions for some initial suggestions.
Do the new Facebook “reactions” make you feel LOVE (since there are more options for self-expression), ANGRY (since your fans may be less likely to express their specific feelings through a comment)… or, just plain WOW?
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