Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Anybody who’s on Facebook knows that “Like” is no longer merely “Like.”  Now you can add an emoji to your “Like” to express such feelings as love, laughter, sadness, astonishment, and anger. But those are the only five emotions you have to choose from. From my perspective, that’s pretty limiting; because there are so many words to express these five feelings.  Take laughter, for instance.  You can laugh, giggle, smile, guffaw, roar, or howl. You can do these things gently, loudly, annoyingly, uproariously, silently, and any other way you please.

I’m not suggesting there be more emoji options; I’ve checked online and there are already tons of them out there.  But, other than confusion and misunderstanding, I wondered what the Facebook Five added to the conversation. That’s when I read the real reason behind them. According to Carolyn O’Hara, managing editor of “The Week” magazine (and others), “It’s advertisers who are over the moon, since they’ll now have access to nuanced data on what 1.6 billion people find funny or infuriating.”

I imagine this will translate into all kinds of targeted marketing.  So when you’re sad, get ready to receive advertising guaranteed to cheer you . . .