iWorld
Mark Zuckerberg gets ‘Reactive’ with Facebook
MUMBAI: It’s been seven years since Facebook introduced us to the “Like” button on the social media platform and ever since then it has become an integral part of our daily lives. In order to improve the experience, Facebook recently was on a testing spree to find alternatives to the existing button. After a demand for the “dislike” button and an intensive research, Facebook recently launched “Reactions,” an extension of the Like button, which gives users more ways to share their reaction to a Facebook post in a quick and easy way.
Talking about the release and the new update, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “Not every moment you want to share is happy. Sometimes you want to share something sad or frustrating. Our community has been asking for a dislike button for years, but not because people want to tell friends they don’t like their posts. People wanted to express empathy and make it comfortable to share a wider range of emotions. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the right way to do this with our team. One of my goals was to make it as simple as pressing and holding the Like button. The result is Reactions, which allow you to express love, laughter, surprise, sadness or anger.”
The ever-so-famous “Like” button has not been replaced, but has now got exciting new additions, which include the expressions such as ‘love,’ ‘haha,’ ‘yay,’ ‘sad,’ ‘angry’ and ‘wow.’ Facebook has ensured that the recent additions do not clutter on the screen and confuse the users; hence the “like” button will look just as it always has. Users will have to hold the mouse over the “like” options for the ‘reactions’ to show up.
Speaking about the aim on improving the news feed for the users, Facebook product manager Sammi Krug said, “Our goal with News Feed is to show you the stories that matter most to you. Initially, just as we do when someone likes a post, if someone uses a Reaction, we will infer they want to see more of that type of post. In the beginning, it won’t matter if someone likes, “wows” or “sad” a post — we will initially use any Reaction similar to a Like to infer that you want to see more of that type of content. Over time we hope to learn how the different Reactions should be weighted differently by News Feed to do a better job of showing everyone the stories they most want to see.”
While this interesting update will bring in a new experience immediately for the users, advertisers on Facebook will have to wait for few more months to understand the user reactions on their respective ads. It is expected that the idea of using the Facebook’s new emoticons – anger, humour and others will be useful to improve the target audiences. But how much impact would that have? Only time will tell.
For now, it’s time to experience and observe how fans respond to the new feature, and Zuckerberg and team spend time learning from this addition and use “our reactions” to improve.
Broadband
Excitel Broadband names Varun Pasricha as chief executive officer
Former COO steps up to lead broadband firm’s next growth chapter
MUMBAI: Excitel Broadband has elevated its chief operating officer, Varun Pasricha, to the role of chief executive officer, handing the reins to a leader who has already spent nearly eight years shaping the company’s rise.
Pasricha joined Excitel in August 2018 and has since been instrumental in building what he describes as “the most loved broadband brand in the country”. Now, as chief executive officer, he is expected to steer the internet service provider through its next phase of expansion in an increasingly competitive home broadband market.
Before his tenure at Excitel, Pasricha held senior leadership roles at Zomato, where he led sales transformation and served as business head for partner growth across India and the UAE. He oversaw the shift in the company’s advertising model from fixed ad slots to performance driven engagement, migrating more than 7,000 paying clients globally while delivering a 20 per cent upsell on the portfolio.
Earlier, at G4S India, he was senior vice president for strategic business, managing a profit and loss portfolio exceeding Rs 1,000 crore. Over two years, he grew the business by around 50 per cent while improving margins through contract renegotiations and cross selling. He also worked closely with the leadership team as vice president for strategic projects, focusing on corporate strategy, restructuring, and new business launches, including entry into last mile logistics.
His career spans strategy and operations across sectors. At Max Healthcare, he was senior manager for business strategy, working on planning and joint venture rollouts in tier II cities. He co-founded Edventure Online, an education advisory venture aimed at helping students make informed career choices. At Indus Towers, he served as senior business manager in the central strategy team, helping convert the energy vertical from a cost centre into a profit engine.
Pasricha began his career at McKinsey & Company as an analyst, building the consulting toolkit that would underpin his later operating roles.
With a résumé that blends boardroom strategy and frontline execution, Pasricha’s appointment signals continuity with ambition. For Excitel, the message is clear: the company is betting on a leader who already knows where the cables run and where the next connections must be made.
