One of the most prominent features on Facebook is about to get a major change. Keep calm, it’s not the “What’s on your mind” prompt but the Likes button.

Conveniently, the button isn’t actually disappearing but Facebook wants to change the way it works. The Like button has been part of Facebook for the past decade and it has evolved quite a bit since then.

The Like button now includes reactions, which changes the “Like” to love, happiness or simply sadness depending on the emotion evoked by the post.

Start off your week with tech news recap and trending conversations in your inbox

Enter valid email-id

Subscribe

I prefer it on Telegram

As spotted by a researcher, Jane Wong, Facebook is planning on hiding the actual number of likes and reactions on a post from everyone else aside from the creator of the post.

This means that Facebook users will no longer see how many people have liked a post. However, they will get to see a list of everyone who has liked or reached to the post.

The initiative to hide the number of likes on social media platforms has been going on for a while now. The likes of Twitter and Instagram have also been reported to be testing similar features.

The idea behind it all is to lift the pressure off users to only make posts that elicit likes.

As it is right now, users have associated the number of likes on a post to the importance and success of that post. But social media platforms want to change this, to make their platforms much more friendly and accommodating to everyone.

So far, there have been mixed reactions from the general public. Some users like that the vanity associated with likes has been tucked away while others simply don’t want the spotlight taken away from them.

What’s your take?