Ever since Facebook introduced the like button in 2010, users have wondered about a complimentary dislike button, or at least other ways to react. Facebook finally introduced Reactions for posts worldwide earlier this year, but users were fairly underwhelmed. A new study from Quintly examines current trends in Reactions.
Use of Reactions has almost doubled among users, but they still only account for less than 6 percent of all Facebook interactions, according to Quintly. Almost 77 percent of all interactions on Facebook are likes and, interestingly, there are almost 5 percent more shares than comments on the site. Users are adopting reactions, but the transition seems to be slow.
In fact, between May and June, reactions increased by 1.3 percentage points. This may not seem significant: Facebook hosts millions of likes per day, so the early adopters may be creating a ripple effect. Tragic events may also be fueling the use of reactions: There was a 48 percent increase in the use of the sad reaction. The other reactions rose by up to 23 percent, while likes only increased by 1 percent. Users seem to be using the reactions most when they encounter the most popular content on the site. Reactions grew the most on pages with more than 10 million fans, up 47 percent between May and June. Naturally, the pages with the most fans would be sharing the most emotive and provocative content, leading users to engage with the new tools provided.
For more information, view the study here....