Those who have been browsing Facebook lately may have noticed a purple flower reaction that wasn't there before: it's a temporary reaction for Mother's Day weekend.
Facebook wants to help its users celebrate Mother's Day and tell their mothers how thankful they are by using the virtual flowers, which went live as a temporary reaction option accompanying the existing ones.
Purple Flowers For Mother's Day
The usual Facebook reaction buttons include "like," "love," "haha," "wow," "sad" and "angry," and now the "thankful" reaction sprinkles cute purple flowers all over Facebook posts.
Facebook first launched the flower button last year for Mother's Day, shortly after adding the other (permanent) reactions. While many argued at the time that it was a tacky substitute for actual flowers, users nonetheless embraced the reaction. This marked the first time that Facebook introduced a temporary reaction, and now the social network brought it back for this year's Mother's Day weekend as well.
The social network has also prepared a number of other features to celebrate Mother's Day, including personalized cards, special frames and masks, support for various causes, stickers for Instagram Stories, and more.
Facebook Mother's Day Features
Facebook has added some colorful masks and frames to spice up photos with Mother's Day themes. To get creative, just swipe right from the News Feed, open the effects tray and have fun.
The social network will also start sending cards this Sunday, displaying messages in the News Feed to wish a Happy Mother's Day and prompt to share a card with the user's mother or loved one. One can add a photo to some of those cards to personalize them and send a more heartfelt message.
In the United States, Facebook will also allow users to support a cause in honor of their mother by starting a fundraiser.
Lastly, those who are also Instagram users will get a range of new stickers to spruce up an Instagram Story to further celebrate Mother's Day. To take advantage of this new feature, users just need to open the camera, take a photo or a video, and start adding stickers to their heart's desire.
Facebook Parenting Tools
Facebook also wants to help parents be engaged with the platform and stay in touch with their friends and family by sharing their special moments and experiences.
In addition to the supportive communities, groups, and pages on Facebook, the social network also has a Parents Portal that launched recently to help parents understand how Facebook works, how to keep their kids safe online and other such tips.
"Every day, we see parents coming to Facebook to ask for advice, share pictures of their kids or just stay connected with family and friends. And we know they also have questions about how Facebook works once their kids join," says Antigone Davis, Global Head of Safety for Facebook. "We hope to foster an important discussion about creating safe and supportive communities on Facebook and Instagram."
Mother's Day is a huge holiday for Facebook. The social network notes that in 2016, it drove more posts in one day than any other topic. Users made more than 105 Mother's Day posts in 2016 and this year should see similar excitement.
