Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 Facebook Reaction Buttons just celebrated their first birthday, it’s hard to imagine how dull life was when we could only “Like” an update. Celebrating the success of the Reaction Buttons, Facebook also recently rolled out the ability to react to comments on updates, in addition to reacting to the update itself. While it is nice to show a stronger emotion beyond the “Like” with the “Love” button, and it is fun to be able to laugh at something with the “Ha-Ha” button, or show surprise with the “Wow” button, convey sadness with the “Sad” button, and, of course, show our anger with the “Angry” button; these different reactions are worth something. Initially, the Reaction Buttons were just a fun way for Users to show what they felt about an update. “In the beginning, it won’t matter if someone likes, “wows” or “sads” a post — we will initially use any Reaction similar to a Like to infer that you want to see more of that type of content. Over time we hope to learn how the different Reactions should be weighted differently by News Feed to do a better job of showing everyone the stories they most want to see.” – Sammi Krug, Facebook Product Manager. Reactions are Signals for Facebook Algorithm As you can see, Facebook had plans to translate those reactions into criteria for their algorithm. Facebook now states that, “over the past year we’ve found that if people leave a Reaction on a post, it is an even stronger signal that they’d want to see that type of post than if they left a Like on the post. So, we are updating News Feed to weigh reactions a little more than Likes when taking into account how relevant the story is to each person.” Reactions beyond the “Like” are all the same, so the algorithm will not be influenced by a “Sad” or “Wow” selection, but the fact that the User took the time to select a reaction beyond just a “Like” is what plays into what ends up in the Users’ News Feed. Businesses Need to React Quintly, a social analytics firm, conducted a study on the Facebook Reaction Buttons and found that Reaction Buttons are underutilized. In fact, 97% of interactions with an update on a Business Page was a like, comment or a share. Based on their findings, Quintly notes that, “Facebook Reactions are a highly valuable feature for social media marketers since engagement with a post is one of the most important elements of linking customers to a brand.” The key to getting your content out and increased business visibility is getting your audience to react to your updates beyond a like, comment or share. (Side note: Quintly found that videos receive 60% more reactions than image updates.) Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article was written for Business 2 Community by Connor Brooke.Learn how to publish your content on B2C Author: Connor Brooke Connor is a Scottish financial expert, specialising in wealth management and equity investing. Based in Glasgow, Connor writes full-time for a wide selection of financial websites, whilst also providing startup consulting to small businesses. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and a Master’s degree in Investment Fund Management, Connor has … View full profile ›More by this author:ACH Crypto Price Prediction 2022 – Is it a Buy?Lucky Block Partners with Dillian Whyte ahead of Heavyweight Showdown with Tyson FuryNFT Pixel Art – The Best NFT Collections for 2022