Facebook has released its range of reactions which allow you to express how you feel in detail when you respond to a post from a friend. It has extended the range of options available when you press the Like button on a post.
In addition to just ‘liking’ a post, you can express the following reactions to the post by pressing ‘Love, Ha Ha, Wow, Sad, and Angry’ icons at the bottom of the post.
In the notifications area of Facebook you can see the result of any friends’ reaction and what mood they expressed.
Instead of commenting on a friend’s post, giving them a decent conversation and engagement, you can simply press a button and let them know how you feel about their post – without telling them how you ‘really’ feel.
How shallow. How lazy. Facebook is enabling us to spend even less time talking to our friends, and encouraging us to become ‘drive by’ commenters of our friends’ lives. It is encouraging them to interact even less than we currently do by clicking a button.
However it is grabbing more and more detailed data about how we feel and adding this to its data store. This will lead to ever more targeted advertising that will be tailored to our moods.
Reactions? Not for me Facebook
Its a clever move. Well done for adding to your advertising revenue with new targeting. I’m sure many of your 1.65 billion users will be delighted with the change.
The change will not have any effect on me however. I decided to no longer ‘like’ Facebook posts last year and my feed has changed dramatically since I made the change. I make the effort to engage properly with my Facebook friends and avoid the Like button as much as I can. I will not be unsocial on social media
I actually spend time with many of my Facebook friends. Real time, face to face time. And that’s how it will continue. That is what matters much more to me than a Ha Ha emoji and a simple click.