Facebook is adding a new reaction to live alongside the Like button and the existing reactions: ‘Hug’
The reaction shows an animated emoji hugging a heart, meant to help you “show your support” to friends and family during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Presumably most people used the ‘Love’ reaction for similar purposes, but the hug reaction shows a bit more directly that you care about the person rather than the post.
On Facebook, we will launch a seventh Reaction alongside the existing six. The new Care Reaction will start rolling out next week globally and you can use it to react to posts, comments, images, videos, or other content on the app and https://t.co/t0PZL74vjg pic.twitter.com/PkpbCoPc4F
— Alexandru Voica (@alexvoica) April 17, 2020
Curiously, Facebook isn’t using the same reaction in Messenger, instead opting for a pulsating purple-ish heart.
It’s kind of obscured too; you have to first open your reactions by long-pressing on a message, long-press on the heart reaction, then tap okay to enable the new reaction.
Messenger is rolling out a pulsating heart Reaction today so people can show extra love and care to their friends and family.
To update the reaction, you can press and hold down the heart reaction to view the new one. To change it back, press and hold the new Reaction again. pic.twitter.com/PufyOsm7zU
— Alexandru Voica (@alexvoica) April 17, 2020
Nitpicks about animated internet cartoons aside, they’re welcome additions, considering how much more people are interacting via social media these days. While I’m not seeing the feature yet, the new heart is rolling out to Messenger starting today, while Facebook’s hug reaction should arrive next week.
