Care Reaction on Facebook ~ At Long Last We Can Hug!

Cheers for the Care emoji. We say, it’s about time. The Care reaction on Facebook is a nice way to acknowledge someone’s situation when you don’t want to be Sad or Angry.

Now, you can show you Care with a virtual hug.

In the past, if you didn’t want to use the Sad or Angry emojis, the other options were to Like or Love something. The other choices were to Laugh or use the Wow emoji.

Oftentimes, none of these were appropriate.

During these extra-challenging times, Facebook wanted to give people a way to express support and solidarity. They released the Care button.

Care reaction on Facebook

Think about all the things your Facebook friends post. Oftentimes, it’s bad news.

People post about illnesses, job loss, moving. They use it to announce and remember deceased friends and family.

While people often show off and brag on Facebook, there’s oftentimes the real, heart-to-heart sharing of bad news.

People post on Facebook because they want to get support. They want to know their real friends on Facebook and their virtual friends on Facebook care about what’s going on in their lives.

If they didn’t care about getting support, they wouldn’t be posting their personal information.

Care Reaction on Facebook
Facebook’s statement about their Care reaction

Hug emoji

As a fellow Facebook friend, you want to be able to show your support. You want to be able to show you care, even if it’s virtually.

That was difficult to do with the emojis Facebook offered users before.

You could have expressed your concern by being Sad or Angry…. but it wasn’t appropriate to Like someone’s bad news.

It was challenging to know what to do. While you can comment that you are “Thinking of them,” if you wanted to acknowledge you saw the post and show your support, you were limited in your emoji options.

Am I supposed to Like or Love that someone’s child is sick? Should friends show their support by Liking that someone’s parent has passed?

The only option was to use the Sad button. That was usually appropriate but somehow, not enough. Many people clicked “Like” in these situations as a way to acknowledge them.

Facebook Care emoji

But now there is the Care button. It’s a virtual hug. This makes things so much easier. Just click the Care and feel good about showing your support.

It’s interesting it took Facebook so long to come up with the hugging emoji. For all they do to intuit our every move, they did take their time to come out with the Care button.

Certainly, these are challenging times. According to Facebook’s tech communications manager, Alexandru Voica, the Care emoji is now “a way for people to share their support with one another during this unprecedented time.”

The new Care button is to show a sign of caring and “we are in this together” during the recent crisis.

We hope it remains alongside the Like, Love, Funny, Wow, Sad, and Angry options. When you consider the gamut of things people post on Facebook, there is a lot to Care about. It’s a wonderful way to acknowledge friends’ posts.

Care button on Facebook
The Care button sits in nicely after the Love emoji and before the Funny emoji

What is the Care button on Facebook?

The Care button on Facebook is a face holding a heart. You can use it to express your support and concern. Basically, use it to show you care.

When you use the Care button on Facebook, you show your support and that you care. If you see something troubling on a Facebook friend’s post, you can click “Care” and extend a virtual hug to them.

When to use the Care reaction on Facebook?

Here are some examples of when you can use the Care button:

  • Expressing solidarity about something
  • Job loss
  • Illness, hospital stay
  • Someone’s passing
  • Anniversary of someone’s passing
  • Any hard times

You can use it whenever you want to express concern, sadness, help, and good thoughts.

Basically, think about the Care reaction like this. If you saw this person in real life, and they told you this news, would you be inclined to reach out and give them a hug?

If so, use the Care reaction when someone posts something like this on Facebook.

Why did Facebook come out with Care reaction?

This new reaction is really helpful to Facebook users. It literally is a virtual hug when we can’t reach out and hug someone.

Now Facebook friends have the option to express their solidarity with a difficult situation. You can use it in addition to commenting on someone’s post or just like you did with the other emojis… you can click Care, and go on to other posts in your feed.

Facebook offers you the opportunity to use the Care button on a photo or a video.

This was one expression that was missing from Facebook’s arsenal of options.

Like, Love, Care, Funny, Wow, Sad, Angry

For all that Facebook does to anticipate our every move, they were very behind on creating the Care button. However, in the end, they unleashed it at the perfect time.

We now have this more neutral option to express our support without needing to be Angry or Sad about it.

This is another reason to love Facebook.