LinkedIn joins the Reaction Party!

LinkedIn have finally joined the user reactions club with other social platform brothers and sisters.

According to a tech website, last November, social media code hacker Jane Manchun Wong spotted LinkedIn’s first tests of its own variation of Reactions, the Facebook emoji response tool which provides a quick and easy way to express more than just a Like on a post.

Now LinkedIn has officially announced the arrival of the tool, which looks slightly different to the test version, but is exactly like Facebook’s response option.

Here’s what LinkedIn had to say, people come to LinkedIn every day to discover what’s happening in their professional communities and talk to one another about topics and ideas related to their work. These conversations cover a wide range, whether it’s discussing industry news, celebrating a company milestone, giving advice on someone’s job search journey, or sharing thoughts on important workplace topics like being a working parent.

One of the things we regularly hear from all of you is that you want more expressive ways than a “Like” to respond to the variety posts you see in your feed. At the same time, you’ve also told us that when you post on LinkedIn, you want more ways to feel heard and understand why someone liked what you said.

That’s why today we’re starting to roll out a set of Reactions on LinkedIn, giving you more ways to quickly and constructively communicate with one another.

You can use Celebrate to praise an accomplishment or milestone like landing a new job or speaking at an event, or Love to express deep resonance and support, like a conversation about work life balance or the impact of mentorship. Insightful can help you recognize a great point or interesting idea, while Curious lets you show your desire to learn more or react to a thought-provoking topic. As a poster, these new reactions can help you better understand the impact your posts are having.

We took a thoughtful approach to designing these reactions, centered around understanding which ones would be most valuable to the types of conversations members have on LinkedIn. This process included looking at what people are already talking about to better understand what feedback they wanted to express and receive — for example, we analyzed the top 1-2 word comments being used and what types of posts people are sharing most. We also conducted global research with LinkedIn members to get feedback on the specific reactions to ensure they were universally understood and helpful.

Reactions are starting to roll out now and will be available globally to all members in the coming months in the LinkedIn mobile app and on the web.

LinkedIn has joined the club, who do you think will enter next?