October 13, 2015
Will marketers like Facebook’s emoji buttons?
In September, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, indicated that the social network’s users would finally be getting a long-asked-for "dislike" button, or at least ways to show empathy. Mr. Zuckerberg only hinted it would be more nuanced than Reddit’s simple "down-vote" button. It turns out Facebook is exploring many more emotional responses.
Last week, Facebook announced it was testing a "Reactions" feature tied to emojis, which are special symbols and graphics used while sending text messages or tweets on smartphones. With the feature, a user clicking on the "like" button would have the option to react to a post with seven different emojis: angry, sad, wow, yay, haha, love, and the traditional like.
"As you can see, it’s not a ‘dislike’ button, though we hope it addresses the spirit of this request more broadly," wrote Chris Cox, the social site’s chief product officer, on his Facebook page in revealing the developments. "We studied which comments and reactions are most commonly and universally expressed across Facebook, then worked to design an experience around them that was elegant and fun."
Source: Facebook
The feature went live last Thursday in Ireland and Spain with learnings guiding larger rollouts. No timeframe was set for a larger rollout.
"We see this as an opportunity for businesses and publishers to better understand how people are responding to their content on Facebook," said Chris Tosswill, Facebook’s product manager, on Facebook’s blog.
With mobile taking over, using emojis is easier than typing out responses on smartphones. But the bigger promise with Reaction is providing better insights for consumer data collection as well as improved targeting for marketers.
"They let Facebook quantify your feelings with even more granularity, which could in turn help Facebook serve up ads that are even more well-suited to you," wrote Davey Alba for Wired.
"It’s a win for Facebook as a data-driven company," Andrea Forte, assistant professor of social computing at Drexel University, told The Wall Street Journal.
Some see a risk that engagement will decline with users overwhelmed by too many choices.
"Facebook Reactions’ heart is in the right place," wrote Pete Pachal for Mashable. "The feature is trying to change a bland, binary choice into a rich experience that better reflects our feelings, but the emotion it’ll probably end up inspiring most is ambivalence."
- Chris Cox’s Facebook Page
- News Feed FYI: How the Reactions Test Will Impact Ranking – Facebook Blog
- Facebook’s Dislike Button Is Here-In the Form of Emoji Reactions – The Wall Street Journal (sub. required)
- Facebook Tests Emoji Reactions to Fix Its ‘Dislike’ Problem – Wired
- With Reactions, Facebook Supercharges The Like Button With 6 Empathetic Emoji – TechCrunch
- Facebook Reactions are here, and they’re worse than we feared – Mashable
BrainTrust
Cathy Hotka
Principal, Cathy Hotka & Associates
Zel Bianco
President, founder and CEO Interactive Edge
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Will Facebook’s “Reactions” feature be a big plus for retailers and brands in terms of data collection and improved ad targeting? Is Facebook taking too big a risk changing its platform experience?
Poll
The new emojis may make it easier for mobile users to express an opinion on Facebook, but this will mean little to marketers. An emoji is easy to use, but what does it really mean? Why did someone use a like or dislike emoji? There’s little risk for Facebook by adding emojis, but big risks for marketers in taking them too seriously.
Any site that refuses to evolve over time will become irrelevant, so the rollout of this new feature is probably a good idea. Consumer brands spend a fortune trying to ascertain what consumers think of them, so this new data stream should provide valuable information. Let’s hope that this gets more sophisticated over time.
Retailers and brands already seem to put a lot of weight behind “likes” and I expect the other reactions will just slightly dilute an already weak metric. There is essentially no risk to Facebook and marketers will continue to take whatever data they can get, but over-reliance on reactions is far from an effective marketing strategy.
There isn’t much risk for Facebook in this development, they only look more responsive to user demand. The bigger question is how marketers can use the results. Maybe it is only a dashboard feature that marketers regularly observe to see if there are other signs of a deeper problem that needs addressing.
First I cannot stand Facebook — too many reason to list. Down the road this social data collection entity will only consist of middle-aged and late-aged Boomers. The Generation Z and late Millennials are growing out of Facebook and it’s in “share that picture with grandma” mode. So the emojis will be of little or no huge value. If you do not know the content or other influencers that lead to the specific reaction chosen then you may have read the emotion all wrong. Let Facebook sell this warped data off to more people. It will guide their marketing down the wrong track.
I like this! Before, it was “like” or … nothing. Now, while there isn’t a “dislike,” there is a level of emotion that can be measured. If the retailer is against the addition of these emoji buttons, then it is probably because they are scared of how their customers will rate them.
This is a win-win. It gives Facebook users a chance to be a bit more specific and it gives retailers a little bit deeper look at the consumers reaction.
No risk here! For my 2 cents.
I think it will be a big hit for the ten-and-younger set…and those retailers who cater to them.
If adults want to base their buying decisions on, say, the preponderance of smiley faces over reading reviews and comments that contain actual words, then they probably won’t have money long enough for retailers to worry about them.
I think Facebook’s Reactions will give retailers and brands a better idea of what their followers really think about their updates. It will surely complicate social data collection.
I agree that Facebook is taking a worthwhile risk by testing this, because companies that can’t keep up quickly become irrelevant. Giving shoppers more ways to interact might increase negative feedback, but at least retailers will have a more accurate idea of consumer sentiment.
Simply put, if retail and CPG brands don’t monitor social sentiment full-time, then they are truly not optimizing their shopper marketing. Period.
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The new emojis may make it easier for mobile users to express an opinion on Facebook, but this will mean little to marketers. An emoji is easy to use, but what does it really mean? Why did someone use a like or dislike emoji? There’s little risk for Facebook by adding emojis, but big risks for marketers in taking them too seriously.
Any site that refuses to evolve over time will become irrelevant, so the rollout of this new feature is probably a good idea. Consumer brands spend a fortune trying to ascertain what consumers think of them, so this new data stream should provide valuable information. Let’s hope that this gets more sophisticated over time.
Retailers and brands already seem to put a lot of weight behind “likes” and I expect the other reactions will just slightly dilute an already weak metric. There is essentially no risk to Facebook and marketers will continue to take whatever data they can get, but over-reliance on reactions is far from an effective marketing strategy.
There isn’t much risk for Facebook in this development, they only look more responsive to user demand. The bigger question is how marketers can use the results. Maybe it is only a dashboard feature that marketers regularly observe to see if there are other signs of a deeper problem that needs addressing.
First I cannot stand Facebook — too many reason to list. Down the road this social data collection entity will only consist of middle-aged and late-aged Boomers. The Generation Z and late Millennials are growing out of Facebook and it’s in “share that picture with grandma” mode. So the emojis will be of little or no huge value. If you do not know the content or other influencers that lead to the specific reaction chosen then you may have read the emotion all wrong. Let Facebook sell this warped data off to more people. It will guide their marketing down the wrong track.
I like this! Before, it was “like” or … nothing. Now, while there isn’t a “dislike,” there is a level of emotion that can be measured. If the retailer is against the addition of these emoji buttons, then it is probably because they are scared of how their customers will rate them.
This is a win-win. It gives Facebook users a chance to be a bit more specific and it gives retailers a little bit deeper look at the consumers reaction.
No risk here! For my 2 cents.
I think it will be a big hit for the ten-and-younger set…and those retailers who cater to them.
If adults want to base their buying decisions on, say, the preponderance of smiley faces over reading reviews and comments that contain actual words, then they probably won’t have money long enough for retailers to worry about them.
I think Facebook’s Reactions will give retailers and brands a better idea of what their followers really think about their updates. It will surely complicate social data collection.
I agree that Facebook is taking a worthwhile risk by testing this, because companies that can’t keep up quickly become irrelevant. Giving shoppers more ways to interact might increase negative feedback, but at least retailers will have a more accurate idea of consumer sentiment.
Simply put, if retail and CPG brands don’t monitor social sentiment full-time, then they are truly not optimizing their shopper marketing. Period.