Eye OnReactions: Facebook Goes Beyond Likes03.08.16

Contents1.   Facebook Introduces Reactions

• How to React2.   What Does it All Mean?3.   Measuring the Performance of Reacting

Eye On: Facebook Reactions, Vol 5, Issue 2, March 2016 © Leo Burnett /// Arc Worldwide

Eye On: Reactions: Facebook Goes Beyond Likes

Facebook introduces Reactions

Facebook’s “Like” button has become as central to its identity and iconography as its familiar blue-and-white color scheme. But hop on the platform these days and you may find a few new faces. The way we quickly interact with posts is undergoing a subtle, yet noticeable change. Users have long asked for alternatives to liking a post, and Facebook has responded, recently rolling out Reactions.

Not every post deserves a Like – some deserve something stronger. With these new Reactions in hand, users can more fullyexpress themselves with “Love”; “Haha”; “Wow”; “Sad”; and “Angry.”

Reactions, the new expansion to Like, pop up above the Like button with a hover-over on desktop or long press on mobile.

How to React

Reacting beyond the Like requires hovering the mouse over the thumbs up on a desktop post or long pressing on the thumb icon via a mobile app. The new list of Reactions will appear directly above that thumb.

Quick and easy is the key here, especially for mobile, where 1.44 billion people accessed Facebook in December 2015.

Eye On: Facebook Reactions, Vol 5, Issue 2, March 2016 © Leo Burnett /// Arc Worldwide

What Does It All Mean?

From the jump, these new Like alternatives will be a potentially useful – albeit unscientific – way for brands to track sentiment on a particular piece of content. They should give marketers a clearer sense of how consumers are, well, reacting to certain messaging or branding. Those who are strongly moved – either positively or negatively – will likely still take to the comments section, however.

It’s the battle for prime space in users’ Feeds, though, where we may see the biggest impact – in time. For now, all Reactions are created equal – so Facebook will be treating each the way it has traditionally handled a Like. As user behavior changes, this may evolve, with certain Reactions getting more weight than others. The move towards Reactions is in line with other recent updates on the platform, made to further personalize user experience, especially on mobile.

Reactions work across platforms. They pop up above the Like button with a hover-over on desktop or long press on mobile.

Eye On: Reactions: Facebook Goes Beyond Likes

Eye On: Facebook Reactions, Vol 5, Issue 2, March 2016 © Leo Burnett /// Arc Worldwide

Measuring Performance and Reporting

We have yet to see how reactions may impact user behavior and to what extent. Will they catch on? If they do, brands will eventually be able to use the sentiment analysis provided in Insights to help better tailor content.

A caveat, though: Facebook will not allow advertisers to target or optimize based on specific Reactions. Currently, Reactions are not supported in Page Insights reporting, but Facebook does say they plan on including them in the future.

You can get a visual look at Reactions totals now in the Insights post dashboard. When available, you may see an impact on post engagement rate. Since these new Reactions allow more options to engage with a post – and since they are listed behind the Like button, a place where users already go to interact – engagement rates could begin to increase, especially in the short-term.

This should be factored in when analyzing performance, of course, but Facebook is cautioning against changing benchmarks or updating any current campaign content until there’s been some time to process how Reactions have truly changed engagement data. With that extra insight, though, brands should get a deeper look at how consumers feel, which could certainly impact planning down the road.

Eye On: Reactions: Facebook Goes Beyond Likes