Why Facebook’s Reaction Buttons Matter
Facebook recently released a feature called reaction buttons that allow users to show their emotional reaction to posts using emoji’s. On the surface this doesn’t seem like a revolutionary change to how users interact with content, but from a data perspective, this feature completely changes the way newsfeed engagement is measured and analyzed. Instead of measuring engagement with a simple counting mechanism, it can be measured with seven types of emotional reactions that provide brands with actionable feedback on user sentiment.
These types of user insights have always been something that many brands have struggled with gathering on their own and now Facebook has cracked the code and given us this information at our disposal. Never again do businesses have to worry about data quality issues from poor user turnouts for email surveys and NPS prompts. All they have to do is simply ask a question or post content on Facebook and then they can instantly get the information that they were trying and failing to collect from other channels.
Many might argue against this statement and say that there is no way to differentiate the value of one reaction to another, but I say that this argument misinterprets how the data should be viewed. There is certainly attributable value for each type of reaction, but it won’t be as blatantly obvious as counting the amount of “Like’s” or goal conversions that occur from a specific post. The value from this feature is found when taking the reaction data and combining it with other engagement metrics to reveal trends about the audience that were never understood by looking at metrics like pageviews and bounce rate. Understanding correlation between the reactions used and these engagement metrics gives brands a clearer picture of why the content is performing the way it is, which ultimately helps with developing future content and improving conversion rates.
These factors alone should be enough to drive any skeptic to agree, but there is still one group that I haven’t recognized that are critical of believing that emoji’s can be used as an important means of personal and business communication rather than the arguing about the data provided. My response to that argument is to think about a time in recent memory where you haven’t received or sent an emoji and I guarantee that you can’t. With this in mind, think about similar occurrences involving tweets, Facebook messages, Snapchat messages and even Venmo transactions. Almost every facet of our online presence has some instance of an emoji and this is only going to continue to grow as we simplify the ways we communicate with each other, like we did with 140 characters messages and 10 second temporary videos.
The future is with the emoji and the data points that can be revealed by these single character messages will amaze many when used correctly. Once the value is clear to all, brands will flock to this data in masses and Facebook will look like geniuses, but in the present day only the few believers, like myself, see the value and can take advantage of this data goldmine.
