Facebook's new hug and heart reactions let you show how much you care
Mia Horton What you need to know
- Facebook is adding new care reactions to its standard slate of emoji reactions.
- As part of this, a new pulsating heart emoji will roll out on Messenger today as an alternate replacement to the heart emoji.
- A seventh hug reaction will come to Facebook's main site and app from next week.
Facebook is stepping up in its role as a global connector amid a global quarantine. Now a part of daily life, the platform is handing users an additional tool to communicate to friends and family that we're here for them even as most of us can't physically be.
Facebook added its emoji reactions to Messenger a while ago, enabling users to respond to messages with laughter, love, sadness and so on. Now, you can show "care" too.
"We're launching new Care reactions on @facebookapp and @Messenger as a way for people to share their support with one another during this unprecedented time," Facebook's EMEA comms manager, Alexandru Voica said on Twitter. "We know this is an uncertain time, and we wanted people to be able to show their support in ways that let their friends and family know they are thinking of them."
These new emoji will manifest in different ways depending on which Facebook app you're using. On Messenger, it'll roll out today as an update to the pre-existing heart emoji. You'll be able to replace that with a pulsating heart reaction by pressing and holding on the heart react. For Facebook proper, the company will be adding a seventh reaction to its six current ones.
Rolling out globally from next week, users will be able to send a hug reaction on posts and photos shared on the platform.
