By Kristy Hesom
For quite some time, Facebook users have been requesting a ‘dislike’ button, and when rumours surfaced at the end of 2015 that Facebook was (really) working on a new interaction, social media users were quite excited. Enter Facebook Reactions.
What’s the point?
Now that we have this feature, what can we do with it? According to Jacqui Mackway-Wilson, digital marketing consultant and online safety activist at
Go Social SA, “Reactions serve to provide
Facebook users with more options for showing their emotional responses to content.”
Say, your friend posts that their dog has passed away, or shares an article about another government scandal, simply ‘liking’ their post is not enough. You can express your actual emotions: sad. angry. HAHA. Etc.
Elena Protulis, head of social media at
Aqua Online, agrees: “It’s ultimately allowing social media to become more of a conversation and delve deeper into how users’ react to, and really feel, about content.”
While social media users benefit by being able to express more genuine emotions, how does
Facebook itself benefit? According to, Robbyne Rowlinson, account director at
Society, part of the King James Group, it’s all about data capturing.
“Facebook Reactions are a clever sentiment data capturing tool that will allow marketers to identify how people react to content beyond simply liking it,” says Rowlinson.
While the ‘like’ button informed brands of what users like, marketers will now have a better understanding of how users really feel about something. Rowlinson also points out that Facebook is likely to sell the data they have captured to brands, which will result in brands being served with content that peaks their markets interest. This will then result in more accurate results for brands, and therefore more investment from brands.
How will Reactions impact other social media interactions?
In November last year,
Twitter changed their ‘favourite’ feature to the heart feature and called them ‘likes’, while
Instagram has always a heart feature for their ‘like’ actions. So will we see them soon following suite with more than one interaction?
According to Rowlinson, as Facebook provides brands with more detailed data and behavioural insights, other platforms will see the value in reactions and add them to their offering.
Mackway-Wilson says that while it is difficult to predict, it is likely that other platforms will add similar features to keep, and grow, their user-base. She points out that is also because of the move to “humanise” digital interactions, which Protulis agrees with: “Facebook has moved in the right direction to allow further functionalities and to allow a social media platforms to become more emotional”, which is what people want in a digital world.
The future of Reactions
While, once again, it is difficult to predict exactly what will happen in the future for Facebook’s newest feature, the experts do offer some insights.
Mackway-Wilson says that she would like to see Reactions introduced into the comments section, and Protulis points to Facebook’s boosting of Messenger, video, and virtual reality, so she looks forward to seeing how they integrate Reactions into their own platform.
Rowlinson asks the important question of what will happen with the data collected. Will premium brands have to pay extra for the access? Or will Facebook only start charging once marketers realise the value? Only time will tell.
Do you make use of Facebook Reactions? Which one is your favourite? Tell us in the comments below.