Facebook Went Spooky For Halloween!

For Mother’s Day this year Facebook introduced the ‘Thankful’ flower reaction that bedazzled mothers around the world and certainly put a smile on my face. At the time I wondered if the next move by Facebook perhaps would be sponsored reactions. Well, the summer has since come and gone, and Facebook is at it again! This time it was with Halloween-themed Facebook reactions and masks (lenses) for live broadcasting!

As many of you noticed yesterday, the new ‘like’ button turned skeletal and the ‘love’ button self-exploded. The ‘Haha’ button became a cackling witch, and a cute spinning ghost haunted the ‘Wow’ button. Frankenstein got all emotional as the ‘Sad’ button, and the ‘Angry’ button was replaced by a severely pissed off Jack O’Lantern.

The new Halloween reactions are fun and help stimulate engagement in the Facebook community. For marketers it is an opportunity to get creative, to capture the moment and ride the wave while it lasts. Although generally enjoyed by most Facebook users in the spirit of Halloween, the temporary Facebook Halloween reactions have received mixed emotions.

The new reactions appeared in all posts, both personal and professional, and were retroactive, which caused concern about their appearances in previous posts. The ‘sad face’ reaction you chose to express your emotion for your uncle’s post about his cat dying two weeks ago had been transformed into a sad Frankenstein, and it somehow did not seem appropriate anymore. Many unhappy Facebook users took to Twitter to express their dismay. Although it does seem slightly odd and a little short sighted from Facebook, are we making a mountain out of a molehill? Personally, I found the new reactions fun and did not check previous posts for the reactions’ appropriateness.  

In the spirit of Halloween, Facebook live also introduced special masks similar to Snapchat’s lenses that enabled broadcasters to be more creative with their live broadcasts. There was a: skull, Jack O’Lantern, witch, and evil queen mask that helped make live broadcasts more creative and fun for viewers.

The addition of the so-called lenses to Facebook is an interesting development, and while Facebook has made no official comments on future plans, it’s quite possible that the company could roll this out for other holidays such as Christmas, Easter, festivals or even sporting events. In the meantime, let’s enjoy the fun reactions and be creative with our broadcasts!