For those of you who’ve been waiting for a Dislike button to click every time the Like one seems inappropriate, give up all hopes: Facebook said it’s definitely not happening. The button is considered too negative and could potentially be used improperly.

The good news is that the big blue app has a greater plan for you – and the rest of the community. The times of liking posts or pictures just because, well, that is the only option, are finally over. Facebook is giving users the power of emotions by introducing emoji-based Reactions.

As reported by Bloomberg, after months of testing in 6 countries the new feature seems ready to be launched worldwide. And if Facebook’s chief product officer Chris Cox is right, this is going to be a phenomenon as big as the Like button.

Users will be able to pick among 6 animated Reactions – Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, Angry – and therefore express their emotional reaction to a post, photo, or video. This is a big move for Facebook – the site is acknowledging and betting on the ever-growing trend of emoji and the preference of the user to communicate faster.

For many, Zuckerberg and friends have come up with a clever idea that will please the Dislike button advocates and the Emoji uber-fans. I was only a little sad to discover the seventh button (Yay) has been dropped due to the fact ‘it was not universally understood’, but 6 will do just fine for now.

A nice touch, from my point of view, is the decision to keep the interface as uncluttered as possible. Users won’t see all their Reaction buttons unless their click and hold on the Like button and the Reactions menu will then appear. In this way the interface will look neat and the Like button, which has become a symbol of The Social Network, will continue to dominate.

I must say I’m looking forward to trying out this new feature; what about you – reactions, anyone?

– Alessia, social media coordinator