It could make us more willing to express how we feel. Or
you could say it over-simplies our complex moods and
lives. But today the Facebook status update box began
offering the option to “share how you’re feeling or what
you’re doing” through a drop-down menu of emoticons
and media. We’re entering a more structured era of
communication, where both friends and big data know
exactly how we tick.
Facebook began testing the new sharing options in January,
but only released screenshots. Now it appears the feature
has been given to a much wider audience. It’s likely the
beginning of a global or at least US or English language
rollout. I’ve contacted Facebook for details. Most mentions
I’ve seen of the feature have been from the US, and many
note the similarity to an old Myspace mood sharing option.
Once you have it, when you go to share a status update
from Facebook’s desktop site or the mobile site
m.facebook.com, you’ll see a smiley face button between
the options to add a photo and select the privacy setting.
The button lets you select to share what you’re feeling,
watching, reading, listening to, drinking, or eating. Each
brings up a sub-menu of emotions, media,
or nourishments. You can add an extra description if you
want, and when you share the post will have “is feeling
comfortable” with an emoticon or “watching Game Of
Thrones” with an image and link to a piece of content’s
Page at the end of your story.
Facebook’s little intro pop-up notifies you that “Details you
add to posts also appear on your About page and other
places on Facebook”. That means they could be used
as recommendations for Pages, eventually wind up in
Graph Search, or potentially even be used as ads shown to
your friends. I go into detail of the business ramifications in
my article from when the feature went into testing.
What’s just as fascinating as ads for Kleenex when we’re sad
or where we sip our coffee influencing search result
rankings is what the feature could do to two core ways we
communicate on social media. We talk a lot about what
we’re doing. The music we’re listening to, the TV shows
we’re watching, and the places we’re getting drunk. By
making it easier to formally tag these things, we provide a
better gateway to experiencing them for our friends.
Rather than go searching for Robert Delong, my new
favorite musician who sounds like the second coming of
The Postal Service but with bass, I can select him from a
smart type-ahead drop-down. Friends can then click
through to his Facebook profile and hit the “Listen” button
to automatically play him on their preferred streaming app.
I didn’t have to go search for a YouTube link or even use
Facebook’s search box and copy his Page’s URL. I browsed
for and added what I wanted to share, all from within the
status composer.
Then there’s the fuzzy side. Emotions. Sharing how we feel.
To some it comes easy, with exclamation points, colorful
language, or typed-in emoticons. For them, mood sharing
could let them do it fast, and with a bonus little graphic
that could draw people’s eyes. But to others, saying how
they feel is tough. You might fear you can’t boil down
emotions like anguish or dumbfounded excitement. That
you’ll lose something in translation. And you might be
right.
But the option to select and share a pre-
constructed emotion could make some people more open
than they usually are. And that’s whole point of Facebook.


m.techcrunch.com/2013/04/09/facebook-mood/?icid=tc_art_pinned[img]It could make us more willing to express how we feel. Or
you could say it over-simplies our complex moods and
lives. But today the Facebook status update box began
offering the option to “share how you’re feeling or what
you’re doing” through a drop-down menu of emoticons
and media. We’re entering a more structured era of
communication, where both friends and big data know
exactly how we tick.
Facebook began testing the new sharing options in January,
but only released screenshots. Now it appears the feature
has been given to a much wider audience. It’s likely the
beginning of a global or at least US or English language
rollout. I’ve contacted Facebook for details. Most mentions
I’ve seen of the feature have been from the US, and many
note the similarity to an old Myspace mood sharing option.
Once you have it, when you go to share a status update
from Facebook’s desktop site or the mobile site
m.facebook.com, you’ll see a smiley face button between
the options to add a photo and select the privacy setting.
The button lets you select to share what you’re feeling,
watching, reading, listening to, drinking, or eating. Each
brings up a sub-menu of emotions, media,
or nourishments. You can add an extra description if you
want, and when you share the post will have “is feeling
comfortable” with an emoticon or “watching Game Of
Thrones” with an image and link to a piece of content’s
Page at the end of your story.
Facebook’s little intro pop-up notifies you that “Details you
add to posts also appear on your About page and other
places on Facebook”. That means they could be used
as recommendations for Pages, eventually wind up in
Graph Search, or potentially even be used as ads shown to
your friends. I go into detail of the business ramifications in
my article from when the feature went into testing.
What’s just as fascinating as ads for Kleenex when we’re sad
or where we sip our coffee influencing search result
rankings is what the feature could do to two core ways we
communicate on social media. We talk a lot about what
we’re doing. The music we’re listening to, the TV shows
we’re watching, and the places we’re getting drunk. By
making it easier to formally tag these things, we provide a
better gateway to experiencing them for our friends.
Rather than go searching for Robert Delong, my new
favorite musician who sounds like the second coming of
The Postal Service but with bass, I can select him from a
smart type-ahead drop-down. Friends can then click
through to his Facebook profile and hit the “Listen” button
to automatically play him on their preferred streaming app.
I didn’t have to go search for a YouTube link or even use
Facebook’s search box and copy his Page’s URL. I browsed
for and added what I wanted to share, all from within the
status composer.
Then there’s the fuzzy side. Emotions. Sharing how we feel.
To some it comes easy, with exclamation points, colorful
language, or typed-in emoticons. For them, mood sharing
could let them do it fast, and with a bonus little graphic
that could draw people’s eyes. But to others, saying how
they feel is tough. You might fear you can’t boil down
emotions like anguish or dumbfounded excitement. That
you’ll lose something in translation. And you might be
right.
But the option to select and share a pre-
constructed emotion could make some people more open
than they usually are. And that’s whole point of Facebook.


m.techcrunch.com/2013/04/09/facebook-mood/?icid=tc_art_pinned[/img]It could make us more willing to express how we feel. Or
you could say it over-simplies our complex moods and
lives. But today the Facebook status update box began
offering the option to “share how you’re feeling or what
you’re doing” through a drop-down menu of emoticons
and media. We’re entering a more structured era of
communication, where both friends and big data know
exactly how we tick.
Facebook began testing the new sharing options in January,
but only released screenshots. Now it appears the feature
has been given to a much wider audience. It’s likely the
beginning of a global or at least US or English language
rollout. I’ve contacted Facebook for details. Most mentions
I’ve seen of the feature have been from the US, and many
note the similarity to an old Myspace mood sharing option.
Once you have it, when you go to share a status update
from Facebook’s desktop site or the mobile site
m.facebook.com, you’ll see a smiley face button between
the options to add a photo and select the privacy setting.
The button lets you select to share what you’re feeling,
watching, reading, listening to, drinking, or eating. Each
brings up a sub-menu of emotions, media,
or nourishments. You can add an extra description if you
want, and when you share the post will have “is feeling
comfortable” with an emoticon or “watching Game Of
Thrones” with an image and link to a piece of content’s
Page at the end of your story.
Facebook’s little intro pop-up notifies you that “Details you
add to posts also appear on your About page and other
places on Facebook”. That means they could be used
as recommendations for Pages, eventually wind up in
Graph Search, or potentially even be used as ads shown to
your friends. I go into detail of the business ramifications in
my article from when the feature went into testing.
What’s just as fascinating as ads for Kleenex when we’re sad
or where we sip our coffee influencing search result
rankings is what the feature could do to two core ways we
communicate on social media. We talk a lot a