Facebook Reactions: What are the six emoji that will join the like button, and what do they mean?

One of the seven original reactions has been dropped, because it was ‘not universally understood’

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Facebook is about to roll out six new emoji-based reactions, as a way of allowing people to express their feelings about post.

The traditional Like button is to be joined by a set of new feelings, each depicted by an emoji.

The company says that the reactions were developed by sociologists, and by analysing data about how people tend to react to statuses on Facebook. As such, they are meant to show the full spectrum of different ways that people might react to any given status.

The first new reaction is an updated version of the traditional “Like” button. It features the same hand with a thumbs-up, but is given a slightly more fun look in keeping with the other pictures.

That is joined by a Love option, which depicts a white heart against a pink background. That picture will presumably be used for when — as opposed to “Like”, which has come to reflect engagement of any kind.

The rest are emoji. They are a face with its eyes closed and mouth wide, meaning “Haha”; a gasping face indicating “Wow”; a frowning person meaning “Sad”; and a red face that means “Angry”.

The crop of new reactions that Facebook will soon be rolling out to users' newsfeeds (Facebook)

One emoji, depicting a smug face with rosy cheeks, was meant to indicate “Yay”. But that has been dropped after being “not universally understood”.

Once the features has rolled out, it will be used by long-pressing on the Like button, which will continue to act as it normally does otherwise.