Facebook reactions and their meanings
Facebook has seven reactions: Like , Love , Care , Haha , Wow , Sad and Angry . Press and hold the Like button on a phone, or hover over it on a computer, and the row slides out. The thumbs-up has been there since February 2009; Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry arrived in February 2016 after a year of testing (a short-lived Yay did not make the cut), and Care was added in April 2020, in the first weeks of the pandemic, as a face hugging a heart. In Messenger the same Care reaction is a pulsing purple heart.
The reactions are Facebook's own animated drawings, not characters, so you cannot copy them into a post. The first row of the grid gives the nearest Unicode emoji to each, and these are what people type when they want the reaction in words: a comment of is a Haha, is a louder Sad, is Love with more feeling, is Care spelled out. Meanings are mostly what they look like, with two habits worth knowing: Haha on a serious post reads as mockery, and Angry is often aimed at the thing described in a post, not at the person who posted it, which causes a surprising number of misunderstandings.
Old Facebook emoticons: the codes that still turn into emoji
Long before emoji keyboards, Facebook chat turned typed faces into small pictures, and most of those codes still work in posts, comments and Messenger: :) becomes , :( , :D , :P , ;) , :O , 8) , :* , :| , ^_^ , -_- , O:) , 3:) , :'( and <3 . The conversion happens when you post, so a face typed as text turns into Facebook's drawing of it. The second row of the grid is simply those results, ready to copy if you would rather paste the emoji than remember the code.
The secret codes are gone. :putnam:, which showed the face of Facebook engineer Chris Putnam, :42:, the penguin <("), the shark (^^^) and the robot :|] stopped rendering years ago and now post as plain text; the penguin , shark and robot emoji are the nearest replacements. Facebook also keeps changing how the basic codes behave between the website, the app and Messenger, so if a code shows up as text, type the emoji instead. Emoji always work. For the whole family of typed faces, the Kaomoji Symbols and Smiley Face Symbols collections have hundreds more.
Facebook name symbols, bio symbols and Page names: what works
Facebook names are the strictest field on the platform. The help page on allowed names lists what cannot be in one: symbols, numbers, unusual capitalisation, repeating characters or punctuation, characters from more than one language, titles of any kind, words or phrases in place of a name, and anything offensive. That rules out and around a name, a at the end, and the fancy Unicode letters that pass for fonts, because 𝓛𝓾𝓷𝓪 is read by the filter as letters from a foreign script. Some stylised names slip through for a while and then get flagged; a name change also locks the field for 60 days, so a rejected experiment is not free. The one small loophole is a real diacritic in a real name: María, Zoë and Søren are fine.
Everything else accepts the whole of Unicode. The Intro bio under your profile picture is the short line people decorate most (it is cut at about a hundred characters, symbols included), and • and the dividers ・ ｡ are what give it shape: ✿ mum of two ✿ coffee ☕ ✿ books 📚. Posts take up to 63,206 characters, comments and About details take symbols and emoji freely, and so do Marketplace listings and event descriptions. Page names sit between the two: Facebook's Page guidelines want grammatically correct capitalisation, no all-caps except acronyms, no slogans, and no symbols such as or runs of punctuation; emoji in a Page name are usually refused, while a plain text symbol is sometimes let through. Put the decoration in the Page's bio and cover text instead. Facebook posts have no bold or italic button, which is why people paste bold and cursive Unicode letters from the Bold Letters and Cursive Letters collections; in Messenger, by contrast, bold, _italic_, ~strikethrough~ and code
One honest note before you decorate a bio: screen readers read fancy letters one character at a time ("mathematical bold capital L, mathematical bold small u…"), and Facebook's own search does not match 𝐋𝐮𝐧𝐚 when someone types Luna. A couple of symbols around plain text keeps the look and keeps you findable.
The symbols next to a name on Facebook, explained
Most of what people search as "Facebook symbols next to name" are badges drawn by Facebook, not characters, so they cannot be copied; here is what they mean. The blue tick means the profile or Page was authenticated by Meta; since 2023 it can also be bought through the Meta Verified subscription, which checks a government ID, so it says "this person is who they say" rather than "this person is famous". A Top Fan badge next to a commenter on a Page marks someone among that Page's most active followers; Valued Commenter and Rising Fan are its smaller siblings. In groups, Admin and Moderator badges mark who runs the group, and Top Contributor, Conversation Starter and the like are activity badges members can switch off.
On a post, the small icon beside the time stamp is the audience: a globe is Public, two heads is Friends, a padlock is Only me, a gear is a custom list. In Messenger the little symbol under your own message is its state: an empty circle is sending, a circle with a tick is sent, a filled circle with a tick is delivered, and the friend's tiny profile picture means seen; a clock means the message is waiting for a connection, and a green dot on a profile picture means active now. If you want to write about any of these, the copyable equivalents are for the badge, for the audiences, for active, and for the ticks.
Emoji for Facebook posts, birthday walls and Marketplace
Facebook's feed is where people announce things, and each kind of post has its emoji. The birthday wall is the classic: Facebook reminds everyone, and the day fills with and , often with nothing else. Engagements and babies bring and a wave of ; new houses and cars ; graduations ; a lost pet or relative turns the comments to and the Care reaction. Weather and holiday posts run on , and a "feeling blessed" status still ends with as it has for a decade. The Birthday Emoji, Condolence & RIP Emoji and Congratulations Emoji collections go deeper into each.
Pages and sellers use emoji as bullet points, because Facebook gives them no other formatting. A business post opens with for the address, or for the phone, for "message us", for the website and for the hours; a Marketplace listing or a group sale leads with available, the price, delivery and or ; an event post stacks on three lines; a LIVE or in the first words of a post is what makes people stop scrolling. One thing to remember on all of these: Facebook draws emoji in its own style on the website and on Android, and in Apple's on iPhone, so a or can carry a slightly different mood for the person reading than for the one who typed it. The generic set for every network is in Social Media Emoji & Symbols; this page keeps to what Facebook itself does.
Symbols
245Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
The seven Facebook reactions and the emoji that match them
Reactions are Facebook's own drawings, so you cannot copy them. The first row is the nearest emoji to each one; the rows below are what people type in comments to say the same thing.
Old Facebook emoticons as emoji
What the keyboard codes turn into: :) :( :D :P ;) :O 8) :* :| ^_^ -_- O:) 3:) in that order. The last three stand in for the retired penguin, shark and robot codes.
Hands, thanks and emphasis
🙏 is the most-typed emoji under Facebook posts: thank you, please and prayers in one.
Posts people write on Facebook
Birthday walls, congratulations, condolences and the big-day announcements that fill a feed.
Pages, Marketplace, groups and events
Ticks, crosses and verified look-alikes
A pasted tick is not verification: the real badge is drawn by Facebook outside the name field. These are for lists, yes-or-no and done-or-not.
Text symbols for bios, Pages and posts
Plain characters that work anywhere Facebook lets you type, including Page names where emoji are refused.
How to use them
6 situationsClick to copyFacebook Symbols & Emoji combos
15Worth knowing
- The Like button was called the "awesome button" inside Facebook until shortly before it launched on 9 February 2009, and a star and a heart were considered before the thumbs-up won.
- The Care reaction was added in April 2020 as a response to the pandemic; it is the only reaction added since the 2016 set, and the only one that looks different in Messenger, where it is a pulsing purple heart.
- The retired :putnam: emoticon showed the face of Chris Putnam, a Facebook engineer, and :42: showed the number from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in a box; both have posted as plain text for years.
- A single Facebook post can hold 63,206 characters, but a name can hold no symbol at all: the help page lists symbols first among the things a name cannot include.
- Facebook draws its own emoji on the website and on Android but shows Apple's on iPhone, so the same in a comment is two different faces for two different readers.
Questions people ask
8What do the Facebook symbols mean?
The reactions are Like , Love , Care , Haha , Wow , Sad and Angry . Next to a post's time stamp, a globe means Public, two heads Friends and a padlock Only me. Next to a name, a blue tick means Meta authenticated the account, Top Fan marks an active follower of a Page, and Admin or Moderator marks who runs a group.
How do I copy and paste Facebook emoji?
Tap any emoji or symbol on this page to copy it, then paste it into a post, comment, bio, Page post or Messenger message. Emoji work in every Facebook field except your name; the ready-made lines above copy as a whole.
Can I put symbols in my Facebook name?
No. Facebook's rules for names exclude symbols, numbers, unusual capitalisation, repeated characters, punctuation and letters from more than one script, so stars, hearts and fancy-font letters get rejected or flagged later. Put them in your Intro bio instead; it takes any character.
What do the Facebook reactions mean?
Like is approval, Love is warmth, Care is sympathy and support, Haha is laughter, Wow is surprise, Sad is sorrow, Angry is outrage, usually at the thing in the post rather than the poster.
Do the old Facebook emoticon codes still work?
The basic ones do: :) :( :D :P ;) :O 8) :* <3 O:) 3:) and :'( turn into emoji when you post or send. The secret codes :putnam:, :42:, the penguin, shark and robot stopped working years ago and now appear as plain text.
How do I get the verified symbol on Facebook?
The blue badge is given by Meta, either to notable accounts or through the paid Meta Verified subscription after an ID check. Pasting or next to your name does not verify anything and is not allowed in the name field anyway; the real badge is drawn outside it.
What does the symbol next to a name on Facebook mean?
Depending where you see it: a blue tick is verification, a Top Fan or Valued Commenter badge is a Page follower reward, Admin and Moderator are group roles, and a small grey clock on your own post or message means it is waiting to send or scheduled.
Why do Facebook emoji look different on my iPhone?
Facebook uses its own emoji drawings on the website and on Android, while the iPhone app shows Apple's. The characters are the same, only the pictures differ, so a sent from one can look a little friendlier or grimmer on the other.
