Here's the latest from the world of social media, including Facebook's 'dislike' buttons and its latest competition from a new app.

Facebook’s new ‘dislike’ buttons

Facebook users will soon have more options than the Like button to choose from when responding to posts on the site. The company is set to roll out ‘Facebook Reactions’ as a Like button alternative. This comes in the form of six emoji with the following sentiments: angry, sad, wow, haha, yay and love. An exact date for the launch has not been confirmed yet but it is believed to be in the next few weeks. According to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the Reactions feature will add “a little bit of complexity” to what had been a simple interaction process. He said: “When you only have a like button, if you share a sad piece of content or something that makes you angry, people may not have the tool to react to it.” 

New social media network 

A new app has been launched by the co-founder of Vine, Dom Hoffman. ‘Peach’ is a new, lighthearted app designed to sit somewhere between Twitter and Facebook. The app, launched earlier this year, allows you to post to ‘friends’ not ‘followers’ and encourages private posting to groups rather than on the open web. The new social media network is currently only available on iOS devices. 

Facebook battery drain 

A new study claims that running the Facebook app could reduce the battery life of Android phones by 20 per cent. The study found that when the Facebook app was not installed, other apps on the smartphone launched 15 per cent faster. Smartphone users also found that running alternative Facebook apps, such as ‘Metal’ increased battery life by up to 20 per cent. This is an ongoing problem for Facebook, and last year its chief product officer, Chris Cox,made his staff ditch their iPhones and move to Android in a bid to solve the problems. 

WhatsApp to become totally free 

Messaging service WhatsApp, is set to drop its token $1-a-year subscription and become fully free. The company’s chief executive, Jan Koum, announced the move at a conference last month. Previously, WhatsApp - owned by Facebook - had been free for the first year, with a fee charged for every subsequent year. But long-term users of the iOS version were given free use for life, after paying a fee to download the app when it had a one-off charge.