Not every moment is a good moment,” he said. “What they really want is the ability to express empathy. It wouldn’t work like a “down vote” button like Reddit has, he said. But in September of last year, Mark Zuckerberg told an internal town hall that the company would finally be adding a “Dislike” button, with a twist. In 2013, a team in the company toyed with adding a “Sympathize” button, figuring that that was more considerate than the straight “Dislike” button that users clamored for. Just four months after its release, more than 3 million users had signaled they wanted a “Dislike” button. The “Like” button was first introduced in the fall of 2009. The emoji reaction release ends a nearly seven year period when Facebook knew that, even though it only had a Like button, not every post should be liked. In an America of increasingly fracturing interests, Facebook is something, like Top 40 mega-hits and nightly dinner preparation, that a vast majority of us share. The Today show is so politically and culturally bland that it’s interesting in its blandness, but Facebook might be even blander. The company announced the new feature this morning on the Today show, the same cultural venue where Martha Stewart previews a new cookbook and Justin Bieber performs at 8 a.m. That’s because the Big Blue, despite its collegiate or tech-whiz roots, now lies at the deepest current of the American mainstream. But since Facebook has now embraced them, emoji are about to become unavoidable to Americans of all age groups. To put it another way, you may not have used the pictorial characters called emoji on your phone or on your computer yesterday. In all its smiling (or crying) verve, Facebook’s new reactions show that icons and GIFs (whether on Twitter or on Tinder) are taking over more and more of the communication that was previously done with text online. The feature also echoes a similar reaction scheme rolled out by Slack, the Silicon Valley darling that makes business software, last summer. Facebook is now more colorful and more cartoonish than it’s ever been. Since the News Feed is Facebook’s “homepage” both on desktop browsers and phone apps, this feature might be the most substantive single change to the company’s flagship product since its abortive attempt to replace email in 2010.

Someone can now respond to any post on Facebook with a heart for “love,” a laughing face for “haha,” an astonished gape for “wow,” a tearful frown for “sad,” a reddening face for “angry,” or a good ol’ reliable thumbs-up for “like.” Rather, the ability to express unhappiness came as a few of six options available to users through a new Facebook feature called emoji reactions. You know that any public tribute from a 6’11” powerhouse to his mother is going to evoke a tear or two, so you might as well use it in the post.Facebook users-we few, we chatty few, we 1.5 billion-finally gained the option to “dislike” a post on Wednesday, though it wasn’t with the thumbs-down icon that many have long envisioned. The news this week… 🤬😡😢 #fossilfuels #globalwarming #climatechange /6TB6kH1HCj I think it’s tragic to watch an insane #IllegitimatePresident play out his psychopathies on the world stage and have a who sits idly by while our country, our way of life, our institutions, our values, our very essence as Americans dies a death of 1000 cuts. Hayden's 1st day of middle school 6th grade! I cant believe he's already in junior high!! I feel so old!! 😢😭 /yiciyEq6lc However, it’s favored over the loudly crying emoji to express sincere sympathies or to empathize with someone, as that more melodramatic emoji is widely used in a sarcastic, humorous ways, and can be misinterpreted. It’s also used in much lighter situations and doesn’t always imply true unhappiness. Clearly a favored emoji when it comes to texting or posting about bad news, the crying face emoji is also useful to convey a sense of quiet despair, disappointment, malaise, and general sadness.

Sad face for facebook emoji