Mother's Day 2016: What the Facebook flower reaction means

Say thank you – the impersonal way

This is the first temporary reaction Facebook has trialed since expanding the 'like' option (Facebook)

For anyone who forgot to send flowers to their mother on Mother's Day, there is now a completely impersonal way to try and make amends.

Facebook users will have noticed a subtle change to their news feed today with a "flower reaction" being temporarily introduced to the site.

It's meant to celebrate Mother's Day in more than 80 countries around the world.

That means that instead of picking up the phone and saying "thank you", you can now send some digital flowers instead.

“In honour of Mothers’ Day, we are testing the ability for people in a few markets to leave a flower reaction,” Facebook said in a statement. The company did not specify which markets the flower was available to.

This is the first temporary reaction Facebook have trialled since expanding its ‘like’ option to give users a choice of emotional reactions to a post.

After Mothers’ Day the flower will no longer be available to use, though it will not disappear from posts on which it has already been used.

Users in some countries have also been able to decorate their messages with flowers in advance of Mothers’ Day while using the Facebook messenger app.