About

Thankful Reaction is a purple flower emoticon which was introduced by Facebook as a temporary reaction in 2016, spawning a number of parody images and the catchphrase "thankful reacts only." In May 2017, the reaction was re-introduced in anticipation of Mother's Day.

Origin

On May 5th, 2016, Facebook began testing the "thankful" reaction in certain geographic locations. One of the first to spot the new emoticon was Twitter user @sreedevsharma.^[1] The violet flower emoji was subsequently removed, before appearing again in May the following year.

Spread

On October 21st, 2016, the Getting Fisted In The Back Of A Nissan Micra Memes posted a photograph of purple flowers with the caption "Thankful reacts only" (shown below, left). The following day, the Lusty Literature Memes Facebook^[6] page posted a photoshopped picture of a bathroom door with the caption "thankful reacts only."

On May 11th, 2017, the Daily Reminder Facebook^[2] page posted photoshopped image with the headline "The Alt-Right Has a New Symbol And It's Everywhere" (shown below). Within 24 hours, the post gained over 970 reactions and 650 shares. Meanwhile, the God Emperor Trump page posted a photoshopped version of the Kekistan flag with the violet flower along with the message "Thankful reacts only" (shown below, right).

Over the next 24 hours, several threads calling for readers to turn the emoticon into a symbol for /pol/ and the right-wing were submitted to 4chan.^[4][5]

Search Interest

External References