This new Microsoft Teams update is a small one — but it could easily cost you your job

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A new Microsoft Teams update could have severe possible repercussions on your employment status, should you click the wrong button accidentally.

The video conferencing service has announced it is bringing its occasionally-popular reactions feature to larger meetings, specifically town halls, where employees of a company are all able to gather together in a single location to hear updates from its leadership team.

These reactions will be the same as those found in the standard edition of Microsoft Teams, meaning the likes of simple “like” and “love” symbols will be included – but so will laughing, surprise and even a “sad face” – so if you’re looking to express yourself on a company-wide call, you’d better be completely sure you’re pressing the right reaction, or possible face some dire consequences.

Microsoft Teams reactions

In its entry on the official Microsoft 365 roadmap, the company notes that, similar to the standard edition of Microsoft Teams, reactions will appear as a continuous stream on the side of the screen – so if you do pick the wrong reaction, it could be quickly hidden (although everyone will be able to see it’s you).

The feature, which is still listed as being “in development” for the time being, has an expected rollout start date of April 2024, so users won’t have too long to wait.

Upon release, it will be available across Teams on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS – but at least to begin with, it will only be accessible on Microsoft Teams Premium.

Released in February 2023 and costing $7 / £5.80 per user per month, Microsoft Teams Premium offers a more personal experience due to a selection of AI-boosted plugins and features powered by GPT 3.5, the AI language model developed by OpenAI, which is able to automate certain mundane tasks surrounding meetings as part of its “intelligent recap” feature.

The platform also recently announced users will soon be able hide any general Microsoft Teams channels, which it says will go some way to, helping you focus on the channels that matter most to you.