Facebook will introduce reaction emojis in addition to Like button in the coming weeks

In the coming weeks, Facebook will introduce the option for all users to respond to posts with a ‘reaction emoji’. The different faces can be called up by pressing the ‘like’-thumb longer.

In October last year, Facebook started a test of the new reaction emojis. In an extensive interview with Bloomberg, Chris Cox, chief product officer of the social network, confirms that the new icons will be rolled out worldwide over the coming weeks.

The emojis allow Facebook users to use more emotions to respond to messages from friends. The choice for the emojis would have been made on the basis of frequently used reactions. However, the “Yay” face did not make the final selection, as this expression would not be “universally” understood.

Facebook first tested the new icons in Spain and Ireland, followed by Chile, the Philippines, Portugal and Colombia. In early January, the reaction emojis also came to Japan. Cox told Bloomberg that the emojis were widely used during the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015.

The new way of responding other than with a ‘like’ stems from the desire for an ‘I feel for you’ button. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg first spoke out about such a feature in addition to the thumbs up in September 2015.