Yesterday Facebook released its latest seasonal experiment: a Halloween-themed reaction emojis. Now the “angry” reaction is represented by a pumpkin, there is a Frankenstein instead of “sad,” a witch for “haha,” a ghost instead of “wow,” a candy heart for “love” and a skeletal thumbs up for “like.”
These new reactions appear on all posts, both public and personal, new and old. So even though you reacted to your friend’s post a couple of days ago, now it will show these new emojis that will be available for limited time only.
Although Facebook has launched several sets of reactions during the last six months –like Mother’s Day in May and the 50th anniversary of Star Trek in September–, this is the first time that they focus on a holiday.
Additionally, Facebook also offers a roster of Halloween-themed face filters for its Live videos. If you’re broadcasting live now you can be able to dress up while using Snapchat-like lenses that look like a Halloween masks: you can choose from a skull, an evil queen, a jack o’lantern, and a witch. When this season ends the mask set will be replaced by another one. Facebook wants its broadcasters to be more creative.
If you want to give this a try, you just have to start broadcasting and then tap on the magic wand icon in the upper left corner of your screen. Select the masks icon in the creative tools tray, go through the options, and tap on any mask. You will have it automatically appear on your face.
Currently, this option is only available for iOS users in the U.S., the U.K. and New Zeeland, but it’s expected to be launched soon for Android users and in many other countries. It is very probable the company could offer similar services in future events like sport related, music festival, Thanksgiving, Christmas and so on.
