Facebook rolls out Halloween reactions, Live video masks

By Brinke Guthrie Published October 30, 2016

There are certain holidays that seem to be tailor-made for the internet, and Halloween would have to be at the top of the list. Whether sites are changing their front door logo or updating their Twitter icon, there is no shortage of special edition fun to be had for this day. Facebook is no exception. The social media giant has rolled out special Halloween-themed reaction buttons, which we assume will be in place through the end of October.

Facebook launched a similar feature earlier this year with the debut of the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. The Star Trek reactions weren’t seen by all Facebook users, but we would bet these latest ones are all over the place — at least in countries where the holiday is a big deal. And in the U.S., it is a big deal. Unsurprisingly, not everyone is happy about it.

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Facebook says “To use the Halloween reactions, hold down the Like button on mobile or hover over the Like button on desktop to see the reaction image options, then choose from the skeletal thumbs up (Like), the candy heart (Love), the laughing witch (Haha), the ghost (Wow), Frankenstein (Sad), or the scowling pumpkin (Angry).”

fb-halloween-2 — Facebook

Then there’s something called Live Masks. For now, these are for people using Facebook Live on iOS in the U.S., U.K., and New Zealand only. Facebook will roll this out eventually for users sharing live video via Android gizmos, and in more countries. The company also says “Masks will also be available to public figures using Facebook Mentions on iOS, meaning people may see their favorite celebrities trying on masks in their live videos on Facebook.”

livemasks — Facebook

Here’s the way to make the masks work:

1. Tap the Live Video icon at the top of your Timeline, News Feed, or page.

2. Once you are live, tap the magic wand in the upper left corner of your screen.

3. Select the masks icon in the creative tools tray at the bottom of your screen.

4. Scroll through the options and tap on masks to have them automatically appear on your face when you are live.

5. To remove the mask, simply scroll left in the mask trap and tap the no mask sign.

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