SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook has finally changed its iconic like button.

The social network has increased the number of options for reacting to posts, beyond “like”. Beginning Wednesday (Feb 23), people have five more choices: “Love”, “haha”, “wow”, “sad” and “angry”. Bloomberg Businessweek recently told the story of the project, which involved months of testing and tweaking to determine the best options. Users had long rallied for a “dislike” button, which the company rejected because it would create a negative atmosphere.

Introducing Reactions from Facebook on Vimeo.

Facebook is releasing alternative buttons globally as it works to become a destination for more than life updates from friends. The company has been increasing its news content through partnerships with media companies for Instant Articles. Tragic news, for example, may require more nuanced responses than a “like”. The new initiative is called Reactions.

“We understand that this is a big change, and want to be thoughtful about rolling this out,” Ms Sammi Krug, product manager, said in a blog post. “We will continue learning and listening to feedback to make sure we have a set of reactions that will be useful all over the world.” BLOOMBERG