LinkedIn introduces reaction options on its platform

Facebook may have brought reactions to the fore, but there is no reason why any other social network can’t follow its lead in order to increase engagement with its own posts. That is exactly what the employment-oriented service LinkedIn has done by introducing an array of reaction options for its users, with a slight twist.

On Facebook, one can engage with a post by choosing any one of Like, Love, Angry, Sad and Haha reactions. This general set works pretty well for the social media behemoth considering its audience and the content that is posted on it on a daily basis, ranging from horrific war clips to hilarious memes.

LinkedIn, on the other hand, operates within the specific niche of employment and business, with the majority of activity on the platform comprising of employers posting job opportunities and job seekers posting their CVs and resumes. Therefore, a different set of reactions that is more relevant to the aforementioned activities has been introduced – Like, Love, Insightful, Curious, and Celebrate.

The option to simply like a post has been on LinkedIn for years, but it was understandably inadequate when it comes to understanding user engagement with posts. You know that someone has enjoyed your post, but you don’t know the intensity with which they appreciate it nor do you know how they truly felt about it. This is where reactions come in, and LinkedIn has been pretty smart with its options.

In a post announcing this new feature, LinkedIn’s Cissy Chen explains the reactions: “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.”

Of course, the glaring absence of reaction options for negative engagement means that businesses and marketers will still miss out on a key piece of information when it comes to how well their posts fared. On the other hand, though, this can also be viewed as a blessing since marketers are more likely to participate on the platform knowing that there won’t be any negative reactions.

Ultimately, this new feature will play out well for LinkedIn because of the great range of emotional reactions that users have at their disposal now in order to let anyone who posts on the platform gain a deeper insight into the impact his or her content had on the masses.