Facebook reactions: What are Facebook's new emoji buttons like?

They haven't introduced a 'dislike' button, but there's now six new reactions to choose from

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

After years of users calling for a 'dislike' button, Facebook is beginning to roll out more diverse ways for people to react to posts.

As well as the classic 'like', users now have six other options to choose from to express their feelings on a status, picture or video.

A 'dislike' button is still in high demand, but Facebook's leaders have resisted, worrying that such a feature would be too negative and could lead to bullying.

The new emoji-based reactions are being tested in Ireland and Spain, and could be making their way to your newsfeed soon - making the dream of humankind communicating entirely through emojis come one step closer.

Meet the new Reactions.

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, 8 October 2015

Like

It's just like the regular 'like' button, but animated. The hand bobs up and down and the thumb moves a little, but that's it.

This will be the new default 'like', and will be posted when users simply hit the 'like' button, rather than bringing up the new reaction menu.

Love

When a like just isn't enough, users will be able to post a 'love', in a feature reminiscent of the halcyon days of Bebo.

This option is bound to create more ways for Facebook users to worry about their social media presence. Why did that post get 7 'likes' but no 'loves'? If your crush 'loves' rather than 'likes' one of your statuses, does that mean they fancy you? The list of potential crises goes on.

Haha

This one is a large, squinty-eyed smiley face with a looping animated laugh.

Facebook have cleverly placed this reaction quite far from the more negative emojis - meaning it should thankfully be quite difficult to accidentally post a 'haha' emoji rather than a 'sad' one on someone's status about their beloved family pet passing away.

Pic: Facebook (Facebook)

Yay

Fairly similar to the 'like' and 'love' reactions, this one is an oscillating rosy-cheeked smiley with a big grin on its face.

This one is probably best used on statuses about successful job interviews, good exam results and passed driving tests - posts that require more of a direct emotional reaction than a simple gyrating thumb.

Facebook chose the list of new reactions by studying which sentiments were expressed the most in comments (Pic: Facebook) (Facebook)

Wow

One of the few reactions that isn't already catered for with the existing 'like', the 'wow' emoji is a surprised-looking smiley with an open mouth and raised eyebrows.

Sad

This teary emoji features a sad-looking face which occasionally cries an animated tear. It allows users to express condolences for something without actually writing anything thoughtful or sympathetic in a comment

Angry

This is the closest Facebook has come to a 'dislike' button - an angry smiley with a heavy brow that turns a particularly furious shade of red when animated.

It lacks the nuance and directness of a 'dislike' button but is likely to be used in the same way, while possibly skirting Facebook's fears of negativity and bullying in the process.

As Facebook's chief product officer Chris Cox said, "It's not a 'dislike' button, but we hope it addresses the spirit of this request more broadly."