Live Reactions let you easily express emotions within Microsoft Teams

One of the challenges of communicating with virtual meetings is getting the “feel” of a room. Between lag, people not having webcams, and not being able to see everyone up close at once, it can be challenging to gauge people’s reactions. It’s also difficult to convey emotions without interrupting a meeting. Microsoft is hoping to change that with Live Reactions, which are available in Microsoft Teams starting today (via OnMSFT).

Live Reactions allow people to show emojis over their photo or video in real time within Teams meetings. For example, if a presenter asks a question, people can show a quick thumbs up or down to show if they understand. People can also use hearts, clapping hands, and other emoji to portray emotions.

Troy Batterberry, vice president of Microsoft Teams Meetings and Calling Program Management shared the availability of Live Reactions on LinkedIn.

Batterberry states:

One of the things I miss about meeting in person is the rich flow of non-verbal communications. Various studies over the years have suggested that as much as 70%-90% of human communications are non-verbal. When meeting in person, everyone in the room can “feel” the energy from non-verbal reactions such as smiles, clapping, etc. For online meetings, having everyone turn on their video certainly can make a BIG difference helping convey non-verbal communication. In addition, starting today, we are providing a digitally native way for attendees to express their emotions in meetings of all sizes in the form of “Live Reactions”. With Live Reactions, users can express their emotions in a digitally authentic way for everyone in the meeting to see without disrupting the overall meeting.

The Live Reactions feature is turned on by default for anyone who has enable the new meeting and calling experience for Teams.