The coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone to stay indoors and support loved ones who don’t live in the same house from afar. It’s a tough time, but Facebook hopes a new reaction can make it a little easier to show how much you love and care about people.
We’re launching new Care reactions on @facebookapp and @Messenger as a way for people to share their support with one another during this unprecedented time.
We hope these reactions give people additional ways to show their support during the #COVID19 crisis. pic.twitter.com/HunGyK8KQw
— Alexandru Voica (@alexvoica) April 17, 2020
In the normal Facebook app and website, the new care reaction will take the form of a small round character with a small heart. It joins the classic thumbs-up, heart, laugh, surprise, sadness and anger options that have been available since the reactions launched in 2015. Messenger users, meanwhile, can activate a new purple heart by long-pressing the existing cardiac reaction.
We know this is an uncertain time, and we wanted people to be able to show their support so that their friends and family know they are thinking about them, “Alexandru Voica, EMEA Communications Manager for Facebook Engineering tweeted.
Don’t save lives, Of course, don’t even solve the planet’s growing unemployment crisis, but it’s still welcome Facebook has 2.5 billion monthly active users, and at least some will feel a little better after sharing or seeing this reaction in a post.