Last Wednesday, Facebook began testing five emoji additions to the like button: “love,” “wow,” “haha,” “angry,” and “sad,” along with the plain old fashioned “like.” Users who have long clamored for a “dislike” button did not really get what they wanted, but those who are excited about the new options may not realize that the data gathered by these selections may soon affect news feeds of users, despite Facebook telling us that the new options are all about giving users new ways to express themselves.
Facebook already structures individual news feeds to try and prioritize what the user most likes to look at. The like button has been a key source of that data from the beginning. At first the data collected by the new emojis will serve the same function.
However, the machine-learning engineers at the social media giant are already working on algorithms that will categorize the sentiments that those various emoji selections mean. This will mean that Facebook engineers will not have to classify user reactions to posts, because the user will be categorizing it for them. Until that happens a response, no matter what reaction is picked, will indicate to Facebook that the user wants to see more of that type of post.
Users who respond, via comment or like button, to funny posts, for example, find their news feeds filled with similar content. Those who respond to informational postings or those that challenge opinions will see more news stories and controversial opinions.
Advertisers will also be interested in the new responses. Facebook may soon be able to assure advertisers that they will not put their ads near the type of posts that make people angry.
The new options can be seen by hovering over the like button on a desktop machine, or holding down the button on a mobile device. The selected icon will appear beneath the post. Business Insider theorizes that they started with only six reaction options because that is quick to grasp and they don’t want to overwhelm people with too many choices. That is most likely why the “yay” option that was originally planned was dropped in the roll-out.