Facebook And Messenger Add 'Care' Reactions So Users Feel 'A Bit More Connected'

Facebook 'care' Reactions

Images speak more than words. For reasons, they can in certain times convey human expressions much better than when their are written.

For this reason, following Twitter, Facebook introduced Reactions as simple ways to convey a feeling or thought, but without having to come up with something interesting to say.

For users, the feature should save them a lot of time. Facebook Reactions, in any ways, work exactly the same as the well-known Like button.

As the coronavirus pandemic continue to force governments to make citizens stay indoors, Facebook and its properties have become the go-to platforms for many people to check in with their friends, family members, neighbors and colleagues.

To show support for those people through its apps, Facebook said that it is adding more Reactions to convey "care".

They come in the forms of an emoji face hugging a heart, and a pulsing heart.

The two Reactions are meant to appear alongside the 'Thumbs Up”, the basic heart, and the laughing, shock, sadness, and anger emojis.

For the Facebook core app, the "care" Reaction it adds is the emoji face embracing the heart. And in Messenger, Facebook adds the Reaction that forms a pulsing heart.

The "care" Reactions are the first Facebook to have ever included to its Reactions list since it was expanded from the famous and simple 'Like' button.

“We hope these reactions give people additional ways to show their support during the #COVID19 crisis,” explained a spokesperson noted about the new emojis. “We know this is an uncertain time, and we wanted people to be able to show their support in ways that let their friends and family know they are thinking of them.”

For example, the Facebook Reaction that shows an animated emoji hugging a heart, can be described a way for users to “show your support” to friends and family during the coronavirus pandemic.

Users can use the ‘Love’ reaction for similar purposes, but the heart-hugging emoji can show that the user is caring about the person rather than the post.

In other words, the "care" Reactions can offer more ways to respond to certain post, to make sure that the recipient is not being misinformed about whatever the user is tempting to express.

Before the announcement, the "care" Reactions were initially tested by Pedja Ristic, a product designer at Facebook, on his own posts, hinting that they were coming.

The Reactions are indeed welcome additions, considering how often people are interacting via Facebook and Messenger.

With the scope of Facebook, the move can be crucial for many people who rely on Facebook and its properties for communication. Users who have their loved ones living in isolation for example, may want to express their empathy. And the way to better express non-verbal and non-written feelings are more in need right now.

On the other side of the story, Facebook is also struggling with the pandemic.

Previously, Facebook said that it has seen a significant increase in usage around the globe as many people stay indoors and practice social distancing. So although Facebook usage is up during the pandemic, the company said that it’s being negatively affected financially due to the decrease in digital ad spending.

"We don’t monetize many of the services where we’re seeing increased engagement," Facebook said.

The social giant is also taking its huge influence to work on a number of things to help with the crisis.

Among them, the company has an ongoing effort to help remove misinformation, provide grants to those in the media industry that are working to report the news, separate grants to small businesses, supporting public health initiatives to get more important messages out and so forth.

And like many other tech companies, Facebook is also putting efforts to donate, including the company in supplying thousands of N95 masks.

Published: 
18/04/2020