Facebook introduced its Reactions feature in 2016.
Reactions expanded the original Like button by allowing users to respond with Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry icons. Facebook began rolling out the feature globally on February 24, 2016, after testing different emotional responses in several markets.
The feature was designed to give people more ways to respond to posts, particularly when a Like felt too limited. A user could press and hold, or hover over, the Like button to choose a reaction. The original Like remained available alongside the new options.
Reactions are not the same as comments, stickers, or emoji posted in a comment. They are structured responses attached directly to a Facebook post, and their aggregated totals can be viewed by people with access to that post. Facebook later used similar reaction systems across some other products.