A lot of people have complained that a “like” isn’t enough to express themselves on Facebook. The Menlo Park social giant has been working for some time now on a new feature that will address just this. Soon, users will be able to chose from five more internationally-recognized emotions to sit alongside the infamous “like”. But won’t this do more harm than good, as it will generate clutter? Is messing with what looks like a perfect recipe wise?
Facebook seems to have this figured out — after all it’s in the company’s best interest. How come? Well asides from improving user experience, adding emotions means more money in the bank for Facebook. Their business is advertising, and nowadays advertising is all about reading users’ behaviour. By adding more depth to the “like”, Facebook is essentially improving its knowledge base. It will be more aware of what makes you “angry”, “sad”, “wow”, laugh “Haha” or “love”. Apparently, “yay” was dropped since it wasn’t universally understood. Notice there’s no word on “dislike”. Though considered, “dislike” has been rejected on the ground that it fosters negativity and Facebook has to be a happy, happy wonderland!
To confine human emotions to these basic social network expressions, Facebook hired sociologists and conducted extensive tests. You might even have seen it somewhere, since it was in testing for a limited group of users. For everyone else, the reactions will be introduced “in the next few weeks.” To use one of the new reactions, you’ll have to hold your thumb on the ‘Like’ button to scroll through and select the one that sums up your mood.
For more on how Facebook is conducting psychological experiments and treating billions like guinea pigs, read ZME Science posts here and here.