A new “plane” reaction appeared on Facebook yesterday. But the company says it was an error, and it’s not here to stay.
Have you noticed something different on your Facebook posts? A new reaction was suddenly available. Only some Android users could use it, but everyone on Facebook could see it. And this was strange, not for one, but two reasons: first, a plane? Seriously? What could that possibly even mean as a reaction? And also, Facebook has repeatedly made it clear that it would no longer be adding any new reactions.
This little plane fueled a lot of speculation on and off Facebook yesterday. What was it about? What did it mean? Was it a new feature Facebook was either testing out or getting ready to launch? Why did only a few select users get it?
https://twitter.com/Sarafromschool/status/1024382628974219264
The answer is in fact simple. As with many other things, it was a mistake. A glitch that should have never happened, the result of a hackathon gone wrong, as confirmed by a Facebook spokesperson: “This was created as part of an employee hackathon and wasn’t cleared for takeoff. Our apologies.”
For some users, a “plane” reaction was available on Facebook.
No matter how or where it came from, the little plane did its job. It got people talking; it got people smiling. And that was not a bad thing on the day Facebook announced that “some people” had been trying to use the platform to influence Mid-term elections in the US.
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