Author: Dan Gendro

Alternatives to the original are including sad, love, and angry to help users express themselves.

The like button on Facebook is an iconic part of online culture, but it is not without its limitations in allowing people who are using the social network to be able to properly express what they think.

For this reason, Facebook has been researching and testing alternatives to that option for quite some time.

Now, in about a half dozen countries, options beyond the like button have been tested out, in order to give users more options to more accurately say what they want to express. Among those options will be “angry”, “haha” as well as three others. They will first become available to the United States as well as the rest of the globe. That said, it’s important to note that it will not change the traditional option to “like” something someone has shared.

The new feature being added beyond the like button will be the Facebook “Reactions”.

The reason is that there are many circumstances in which people would like to be able to provide a different kind of reaction or support, in which the word “like” simply does not seem appropriate. For example, if someone has announced that they’ve lost a loved one or a pet has run away, clicking the thumbs up symbol can feel like an unpleasant thing to do, even if the intention is to show support at such a difficult time.

Similarly, when someone shares a story about being wronged by someone else, you may want to show that you’ve read their post and you’re on their side, but clicking “like” just isn’t a direct reflection of what is actually being expressed.

Therefore, there is now an option rolling out that allows the like button to be held (or to have the mouse held over it) for a second or two, in order to open up the new Reactions alternatives, such as sad, angry, wow, haha, and love. This, according to the product design director at Facebook, Julie Zhuo, will make it possible to let users gain “greater control over their expressivity.”

Samsung Pay will be launching in China soon

Samsung is planning to launch its first mobile payments service, called Samsung Pay, in China this week. The company is set to compete with Apple, which has only very recently brought its own payment service to the country. Unlike Apple, however, Samsung may have a relatively easy time engage consumers with its new service. Jefferies, a global investment bank, believes that Samsung will find success in the Chinese market, which has become heavily involved in mobile commerce in recent years.

Analysts see Samsung Pay finding more success among consumers than Apple Pay

Jefferies equity analyst Johnny Wong Kin-man believes that there will be less fanfare surrounding the launch of Samsung Pay, but it will likely be more accepted among merchants than Apple Pay. Apple has had trouble ensuring the launch of its payment service in China, where banks had shown relatively little interest in the service. Banks had shown concern that Apple was attempting to take advantage of the mobile commerce ecosystem that they have already established. Apple has since acquired the support of several banks, many of whom see a great deal of promise in the mobile payments space.

Samsung Pay could become a universally accepted payment platform

Samsung Pay has already proven to be extremely popular among merchants. Samsung predicts that as many as 30 million merchant locations throughout the world will accept the new payment service in the near future. This would make Samsung Pay the world’s first mobile commerce solution that has near universal acceptance. In China, Samsung Pay may become quite popular among consumers that have become reliant on their mobile devices while shopping.

Samsung will face significant competition from Alibaba and Tencent

While Samsung may be able to find more success than Apple, it will face major competition from other companies that have become involved in mobile payments. Both Alibaba and Tencent have established major footholds in the mobile space, with consumers using the platforms these companies have develop to purchase products online and send money to one another.