Once, there were jokes, memes and petitions on Facebook for a simple dislike button, but, in it’s most recent update, Facebook gave them a whole lot more than that.
Now, you can react to other peoples’ posts using emojis. The new options include love, haha, wow, sad, and angry. These options are confusing some people, and a hit with others.
Taylor Hoyt, a Facebook user, said she think it was an odd they decided to do this change now.
“Remember when the like button came out, and everyone wanted a dislike button? It’s like Facebook finally decided it was a good idea, except everyone else had already moved on,” said Hoyt.
She said she’s indifferent about the changes. However, others have different opinions about the new reaction emoji.
Alya Poitras, is a Facebook user who thinks these new reaction emojis are a great idea.
“I’m really for them, and I’m really glad they didn’t put a dislike button, either. They make me giggle a little, but they still get their point across,” she said.
She said these new options allow for people to properly express how they feel about someone’s post.
“If we’re talking about racism or something of a negative topic, some can use the ‘angry’ liking option or they can like it, and it means the same thing, but you actually know what they mean when they like your post,” said Poitras.
This kind of idea is shared by a lot of Facebook users, including Matthew Forbes, who said a dislike button would only send messages of disapproval, and times where expression through emojis is so popular, this change is good for Facebook.
“A way to show emotion among each other with a single like is very helpful. In this way, it helps Facebook compete with Twitter and other much quicker forms of communication,” said Forbes.
Forbes reminded us of the days of MSN and how emojis were used to express ourselves even in that era of the Internet.
“Entire conversations can be had with emoticons, so it’s great Facebook is keeping up with the times,” he said.
But what about the obvious question, what about when someone creates conflict by not giving the wanted reaction.
When asked, Poitras said, “I’m a firm believer that arguments and butting heads, so to speak, will always happen. Everyone has their own opinion about things, regardless if you’re best friends or just acquaintances,” she said.
But she said people shouldn’t let something like a disagreement about emojis get between friends.
That idea seemed to echo around the reactions people have. We attempted to contact Facebook themselves to see if they had any insight on how the new emojis were affecting users, but they didn’t return our request.
The emojis seemed to be doing well. For now, Facebook users will have to move on from the idea of a dislike button and head straight for the love button, or if you insist, the angry button.
