Skip to main content

Facebook’s new emotion-based status updates are a win for sarcasm

fb amused statusFacebook has started rolling out it’s new emotion and action-based status update options. Now, when you go to fill something out in the empty white box, you’ll see a smiley-face icon pop up. From here, you can tell Facebook how you’re feeling, or choose from a handful of other Open Graph verbs (i.e., “watching,” “reading,” or “eating”). 

The new feature has been subject to a bit of early criticism – most pointedly that this is what (old) MySpace and LiveJournal let us do … and we haven’t been in all that much of a hurry to bring it back.

Regardless, it’s here, and coupled with our love of punking new Facebook features we don’t like, you should prepare yourself to see a slew of  rather sarcastic status updates hitting the platform: 

fb drinking gold
fb eating babies
fb your mom

fb sounds of sexThe thinking behind the new status update options is that Facebook will be able to get a much more concrete idea of what we’re doing and interested in, beyond the “like.” If enough people use the function to troll the social network, then you can bet the predictive data that could be used from this feature will be pretty tainted. Because I promise you, I did not eat any babies today. No babies were eaten in the production of this post. 

Molly McHugh
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…
Facebook will stop accepting new political ads in the week before Election Day
Trump with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stylized image

Facebook says it won’t accept new political advertising in the week leading up to the U.S presidential election on November 3. The move is part of a broader set of measures Facebook is announcing today to tackle election interference and voter misinformation.

“The U.S. elections are just two months away, and with COVID-19 affecting communities across the country, I'm concerned about the challenges people could face when voting,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. “I'm also worried that with our nation so divided and election results potentially taking days or even weeks to be finalized, there could be an increased risk of civil unrest across the country.”

Read more
Facebook is cracking down on platform abusers with a pair of new lawsuits
The Facebook home page on a screen.

Facebook is taking action against those who abuse its platform with a pair of new lawsuits. 

On Thursday, the social network announced that it filed two separate lawsuits against developers for violating the company’s terms of service. The lawsuits show that Facebook is trying to send a clear message to companies that abuse its platform.

Read more
Facebook seeks to protect election integrity with its new voting info hub
Trump with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stylized image

Facebook’s information hub for voting resources, which it announced a few weeks ago, is now available in the United States. The social network wrote in a blog post that by offering quick access to accurate and authoritative voting information, it wants to help “protect the integrity of our elections” and “navigate a confusing election process.”

Both Instagram and Facebook users will soon find a link to the Voting Information Center in their accounts. Facebook, however, says it will also individually send notifications to inform people of voting age about the new feature.

Read more