Microsoft has announced a new update for Yammer that brings the ability to choose diverse skin tones for reactions. This new inclusive reactions feature has begun rolling out globally to the web and mobile client, and it will soon be available to all users.
“When designing this feature, we ensured reactions with skin-tones work on both light and dark mode, so users with varying abilities can use this feature as expected. Additionally, we looked beyond our team, to seek input from members of the various employees to ensured our proposal was honed by diverse perspectives,” the company explained.
Termed inclusive reactions, the feature allows users to change their skin tone preference through the Yammer Settings panel. Once a user selects a skin tone, the change will be reflected in the Like and Thank reaction icons’ skin tone preferences in the action bar and the summary view. The company says that it conducted in-house research to design this feature so that users “can feel a deeper sense of representation while interacting in new Yammer.”
To try out inclusive reactions on the web, click the Settings icon, and select “Choose skin tone for reactions” from the settings panel. In the skin-tone dialog box, choose your skin-tone preference, finally click the OK button to save the changes. On mobile devices, users must tap the “Reaction skin tone” option in Settings to access skin tone options.
Microsoft noted that these preferences would be immediately available in the Yammer integrations in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook. While Yammer is the first app to receive inclusive reactions, the company is working on adding this feature to Microsoft 365 products. Users can head to this support document for more information.
