Facebook is adding a new way for its 2.5
billion users to express empathy and
compassion.

In response to the global coronavirus
pandemic, Facebook will introduce two new
“care” animated reaction emojis starting
next week: There’s a yellow face hugging a
heart for the core Facebook service, while in
Messenger app it will appear as a pulsating,
purplish heart.

“We hope these reactions give people
additional ways to show their support during
the COVID-19 crisis,” a Facebook
spokeswoman said in a statement.


It’s the first expansion of Facebook’s
emotional-reaction slate in over four years.
In early 2015, it added five new emoji — for
love, sadness, anger, “wow” and laughing —
to the original iconic “like” reaction.
Facebook users can add the new “care”
reaction to posts, comments, images, videos
or other content.


To add a reaction, users hold down the Like
button on mobile apps or hover over the
Like button on the desktop version of the
site to see the reaction-emoji options.

For Facebook, the reactions are a key
feature to spur users to connect on the
platform — and ultimately spend more time
on the service. By contrast, the company’s
Instagram service has been leaning in the
opposite direction: Instagram is testing
hiding “like” counts , as a way to reduce
competitive popularity-contest pressure on
users.

Facebook to date has resisted introducing a
“dislike” button: In the past, CEO Mark
Zuckerberg has said the company didn’t just
want to add what would amount to a “down-
vote” option.

With the exception of “angry,” Facebook has
steered clear of other negative emotions like
disgust or jealousy. The social service had a
special “thankful” purple-flower reaction —
but that was available only for Mother’s Day
in 2016 and 2017.

Meanwhile, Facebook in the next weeks
plans to start showing warning messages in
News Feed to users who have liked, reacted
or commented on “harmful misinformation
about COVID-19 that we have since
removed,” VP of integrity Guy Rosen wrote
in a blog post . The notices will provide info
on COVID-19 hoaxes that have been
debunked by the World Health Organization.

On Thursday, Zuckerberg announced that
Facebook has canceled all large in-person
events it had planned through June of 2021
because of the coronavirus outbreak. Most
Facebook employees will be required to
work from home through at least the end of
May 2020.

https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/facebook-new-emojis-care-reaction-covid-19-1234583228/

Ok

This is impressive. Facebook is just trying to dominate the Tech space.

Zuckerberg

So I will be forced to update those apps because of these?