MANILA, PHILIPPINES — In the era of COVID-19, face-to-face communication is a rarity. The pandemic has relegated us to virtual conversations over messaging apps. One pivotal thing that’s been lost in this case is the precision and nuance of facial expressions, which telegraph emotions more precisely than words may be able to. On the internet, emojis have gone a long way in bridging this gap, giving us a full emotional palette with which to convey our tone of voice.
To help bring online communication a step closer to real life convos, Rakuten Viber is incorporating a new Message Reactions feature in Communities. Users are now able to accurately react to every post in a Community, choosing from a simple like, laughter, shock, sadness, or anger.
In order to react to a message, just long-tap the heart icon next to any message and pick an emoji. You can react to messages, media, and other content shared in a Community. To see how people have reacted to your message, long-tap the message and choose “Info” to see the list of reactions.
As one of the leading messaging apps in the world, Viber has always been steadfast in its promise to help their users deepen their relationships with authentic conversations through its wide range of communication features — especially when physical interactions are impossible. By allowing its over a billion of users to react to a message in a Community, Viber is taking one step further in empowering them to convey their emotions and reactions and inject their personality into their conversations.
“Viber is committed to empowering users to express themselves in the most accurate way possible. The ability to simply ‘like’ a message with a heart didn’t encompass the wide range of emotions people can experience when reading a message, and we needed to do more. The Message Reactions feature enables users to react in the most fitting way,” said Ofir Eyal, COO of Viber.
With the atmosphere of Viber Communities beginning to look more and more like a dynamic conversation, Viber continues to give users better ways to stay in touch amid the pandemic.
