On February 24th, Facebook unveiled Reactions to the world, a new form of interaction on the platform. Reactions gives Facebook users the ability to not just like or comment on a post, but to also give emotional feedback on a post - the ability to express that a post makes you angry, sad, happy, or that you love it instead of just liking it, all by holding down the like button.
While this will obviously change how users interact with Facebook posts, it will also change Facebook analytics - for better and for worse. The depth of detail that page managers will now have on the analytical level is astounding - they will have a wide variety of emotional reactions to their posts instead of just likes, comments, shares, engagements, and views. This creates a layer of additional scrutiny for Facebook posts that social managers have yet to deal with - posts that have a wide variety of measurable reactions instead of just a number of likes & engagements. This is a very daunting amount of information - and will eventually change social strategy towards Facebook, as brands will look to tailor content to inspire certain Reactions rather than just be engaging.
So far, this is a new system and there isn't much evidence to show how Reactions will impact analytics, but this is a fundamental shift on how social managers will measure success. It remains to be seen how brands will respond and shape their social programs to match this latest development in Facebook's ever changing platform.