Angry and sad: Hong Kong vents at CY Leung with Facebook’s freshly released emoticons
Social media giant unveils five new emoticons on the site, and users waste no time letting Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying know exactly how they feel
Hong Kong Internet users are taking full advantage of a new function on Facebook to express how they feel about local government officials.
The social media giant on Friday unveiled a feature on the site that allows users to react to posts with five new emotive icons named “love”, “wow”, “haha”, “sad” and “angry”, alongside the more familiar “like” button.
Local officials faced an unexpected popularity race as Internet users wasted no time in using it to make their feelings known, with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s profile subjected to a wave of anger on Friday.
A photo of Leung attending a spring reception for the Employers’ Federation of Hong Kong was plastered with 30,000 “angry” emoticons in just four hours after it was published. Some 700 people “liked” the post, while 171 gave it a “sad” icon.
A meagre 43 people expressed “love” for the photo.
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The Chief Executive opened his personal Facebook account in October last year, under the name “CY Leung”.
Prior to the launch of the new function, the public could only view or “like” the posts Leung published as comments were restricted to those added as friends.
It’s understood that the “Reaction” function cannot be turned off.
香港僱主聯合會2016春茗 今天中午出席香港僱主聯合會春茗，向約300名該會會員演講，並和 Project We Can 同學聊天，聆聽他們的想法。我經常鼓勵香港工商專業界團體和企業，多提供這類機會給香港的中學生和大學生。感謝Project We Can, 感謝香港僱主聯合會。
Posted by CY Leung on Thursday, February 25, 2016
Aside from Leung, four other top officials – Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah, commerce minister Greg So Kam-leung, development minister Paul Chan Mo-po and education minister Eddie Ng Hak-kim – have opened personal accounts on the social media platform, and Internet users reactions to their pages have so far been much friendlier.
Tsang, one of the city’s most popular officials, has so far fared the best amongst the quartet.
A photo of the financial secretary meeting Michel Sapin, France’s minister for finance and public accounts, saw 32 Facebook users express “love” and 27 award it a “wow” icon and 16 “love” within two hour.
There was no “angry” emoticon on the post so far.
Ng, meanwhile, gained three “angry” icons on a post published on Friday while there were no emoticons on the other ministers’ pages.
Chinese University political scientist Ivan Choy Chi-keung said he’s “not surprised” by Internet user’s reaction to the CE’s Facebook profile.
“This is another indication of how unpopular Leung is and Beijing may take note of it”, he said.
The Chief Executive’s office could not be reached for comment at the time of print.
READ MORE: Like it or not, Facebook unveils new emoting emoji — love, haha, wow, sad and angry
Hong Kong internet users are taking full advantage of a new function on Facebook to express negative emotions about local government officials.
The social media giant on Friday unveiled a feature on the site that allows users to react to posts with five new emotive icons named “love”, “wow”, “haha”, “sad” and “angry”, alongside the more familiar “like” button.
Internet users wasted no time in using the new function to make their feelings known to local officials, with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s profile subjected to a wave of anger on Friday.
A photo of Leung attending a spring reception for the Employers’ Federation of Hong Kong was plastered with 26,000 “angry” emoticons by 6.30pm, four hours after it was published. Some 599 people “liked” the post, while 155 gave it a “sad” icon.
A meagre 40 people expressed “love” for the photo.
In contrast, reaction to Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah’s Facebook profile was more positive.
A photo of the financial secretary meeting Michel Sapin, France’s minister for finance and public accounts, saw 20 Facebook users award it a “wow” icon and 16 express “love” within an hour.
