Facebook 'Like' button gains new reactions: Love, Haha, Wow, Sad & Angry [u]

Beyond the normal "Like" button on posts on the site, users can now choose from five more reactions. They are:

• Love
• Haha
• Wow
• Sad
• Angry

On a Mac or PC, users can hover over the Like button with their cursor to see the reaction image options. On mobile devices, users simply tap and hold on the Like button and slide your thumb across to choose one.

"We understand that this is a big change, and want to be thoughtful about rolling this out," Facebook product manager Sammi Krug wrote in a post to the company's official site. "For more than a year we have been conducting global research including focus groups and surveys to determine what types of reactions people would want to use most. We also looked at how people are already commenting on posts and the top stickers and emoticons as signals for the types of reactions people are already using to determine which reactions to offer."

While the now-iconic blue like button remains with a thumbs-up, the remaining reactions are represented by emoji-like faces and icons.

Facebook first announced last September that it was working on new ways for users to react to posts beyond simply "liking" them. For example, if a user shares sad news, such as the death of a loved one, their friends may want to acknowledge the post without seeming like they are pleased by it.

Facebook officials had been reluctant to add a general "dislike" button, for fear that it might lead to negativity or even harassment on the site. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last year that efforts to expand reaction options on his site were a "surprisingly complicated" endeavor.

Facebook is the single largest developer for Apple's iOS platform, as the company is responsible for four of the top ten most popular mobile apps of all time: The official Facebook app, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp Messenger.