Facebook is testing new emojis to give users the chance to more than "like" something.
Called Reactions, new possible options include "love," "haha," "wow," "yay," "sad" and "angry." Not included is a "dislike" button, the debut of which has been widely speculated.
The only catch: You can't use Reactions from the United States just yet.
"Starting today Ireland and Spain can start loving, wow-ing, or expressing sympathy to posts on Facebook by hovering or long-pressing the Like button wherever they see it. We’ll use the feedback from this to improve the feature and hope to roll it out to everyone soon," Facebook's chief product officer Chris Cox posted on Thursday.
Company product director Adam Mosseri told TechCrunch that Spain and Ireland were selected because users from those countries don't have many international friends, which makes them easier to research as closed test groups.
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Today we’re launching a pilot test of Reactions — a more expressive Like button. As you can see, it’s not a “dislike” button, though we hope it addresses the spirit of this request more broadly. We studied which comments and reactions are most commonly and universally expressed across Facebook, then worked to design an experience around them that was elegant and fun. Starting today Ireland and Spain can start loving, wow-ing, or expressing sympathy to posts on Facebook by hovering or long-pressing the Like button wherever they see it. We’ll use the feedback from this to improve the feature and hope to roll it out to everyone soon. Posted by Chris Cox on Thursday, October 8, 2015
