Facebook announced back in 2015 that the like button will be more expressive – a number of options were added on: love, sad, anger, wow, haha. This is an extension of the like button.
Facebook users have always wanted a dislike button but sadly won’t be getting one. Hopefully Mark Zuckerberg decides to add the dislike button for the fun of it. Facebook then started playing around with different animated emoji reactions that could best fit a post. It came down to six: love, sadness, anger, wow, haha and yay. “Yay” did not make the final cut as Facebook realized it was not “universally understood”. According to Zuckerberg, love is the most used reaction since being released in February 2016.
With a click of the button, you now can react by using one of the five new reactions. For a PC, hover over the like button and the other will pop up. When using a mobile device, hold the like button down until you see the other reaction buttons pop up.
This was created so that people can express that they understand what you meant by a certain post and that they can relate to you in a certain way. People can now share what they are feeling on a post.