This article was published on March 23, 2017

Facebook adds Mentions and Reactions to chats on Messenger


Facebook adds Mentions and Reactions to chats on Messenger

Facebook is making conversations in Messenger a lot more like… well, Facebook. You can now use reactions during chats, as well as tag specific people using the ‘@’ symbol.

The reactions are useful for the same reason they are on Facebook proper: They give you more ways to acknowledge you’ve read a post and express your feelings towards it instead of a generic Like. In fact, Messenger also offers a thumbs down reaction, something you can’t use on Facebook. Here it’s probably meant to serve more as a ‘no’ than a ‘dislike’ button, which will come in handy for, say, deciding what restaurant to eat at with a group of friends.

Meanwhile, the @mentions will be useful when you want to let someone know they’re being specifically called upon in a conversation. As with WhatsApp – which added a similar feature a few months ago – it will be particularly appreciated (or annoying) in all those large group chats where half the participants have muted the conversation.

Both features are rolling out globally today.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with