Facebook is just weeks away from learning, finally, to Love. And be sad. And angry.
The social network, fresh from announcing blockbuster profits and continued growth to around 1.6 billion users, and 1.4 billion on mobile, said it will launch five new 'reaction' buttons "in the next few weeks".
Instead of simply Liking things, users will be able to express 'Love, 'Haha', 'Wow', 'Sad' and 'Angry'. On desktop the feature will appear when hovering over 'Like', while on mobile users will need to tap and hold.
Facebook unveiled its new emoji, which it calls 'Reactions', in October, with limited rollouts in a few countries. The social network said the feature had changed since then, with 'Yay' removed because it was not "universally understood". Facebook said the new options had been honed for months to produce the right experience. "This was a feature that was right in the heart of the way you use Facebook, so it needed to be executed really well in order to not detract and clutter up the experience," Chris Cox, the social network’s chief product officer, told Bloomberg. He added that CEO Mark Zuckerberg's reaction was simple -- and challenging. "Good luck," he remembers Zuckerberg saying. "That's a hard one."
Facebook is increasingly turning to new ventures and products in an attempt to drive growth, including a seemingly boundless role for Messenger and investments in virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
But its core product remains its principal business. Likes, too, will remain its main currency. The animated reaction images will let users more accurately respond to posts, which may also provide Facebook with more data on what people like, love and hate. And such data could be a goldmine for Facebook's advertising business.
There are no fixed dates on the rollout, for the UK or any other territory, but get set for the reaction on Facebook itself to be mixed. Deliberately.
Meanwhile, in its earnings announcement on Wednesday, Facebook said that its revenue for 2015 had hit just under $18 billion (£12.59bn) -- roughly the same as the profit Apple made in the last 90 days of the year, but up 44 percent compared to the previous 12 months.
Facebook now has 934 million users every day, on average, and an increase of monthly users on mobile, up 21 percent year-on-year. Mobile advertising revenue was also up from 69 percent of all revenue in 2014 to 80 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
