Are you, by chance thinking about how to squeeze more out of a plain and dull Facebook conversation? Well, think no more of it, because the clever boys and girls working for Facebook beat you to it. Facebook introduced Reactions, which is basically very similar to using the old “like” button but it has an added twist.

So this is how the new system of emoticons works. Let’s say that someone posts something funny on your timeline. Of course, you can always mash the “like” button in order to make the person understand that you actually like the post. But wouldn’t it be more natural if we have something like an “awesome” or “true story, bro” button?

Here’s another example of how we can use the new Reactions function. Imagine if someone posted something really sad, something about the death of someone dear. It’s pretty awkward to hit the “like” button in times like these. Basically by mashing that bright blue button, you would say something like: “Bro, I know that your X relative died, I’m sorry for you, but I like your post.“

And these are just but a few examples that showcase the fact that the “like” button can sometimes be useless.

Perhaps this is what Facebook had in mind when it created the new set of emoticons called “Reactions”. Facebook introduced reaction in order to facilitate the means of expressing our feelings towards a situation. Moreover, it would seem that the necessity to create new emoticons derives from the fact that Facebook still doesn’t want to introduce a “dislike” button.

So what do these new emoticons look like? According to Zuckerberg’s declarations, his team initially created six different emoticons or reactions. So we have the yay emoticon, the love emoticon, an emoticon that goes “haha”, another one that says “wow”, one that is forever sad and one that looks like someone who would beat the living daylights out of you using a baseball bat.

But it seems that one of them didn’t make it. According to Facebook’s CEO, the team had to eliminate the “yay” emoticon, because not everyone understands it.

Presently, the Reactions system is available in Spain and Ireland, but if all goes well, it will go live worldwide. Picture this: now you will have the perfect emoticon for the perfect situation. If a post makes you sad, go right ahead and express your sadness and despair by mashing the sad button. On the other hand, if you think the post is downright amusing, then hit the “haha” button and let the good times roll.

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