Facebook Users Discover That Typing “GG” in a Comment Gives a Fun Surprise

New trend alert! You may have seen people telling you to type “GG” in a comment on Facebook and watching to see what happens. If you haven’t tried it yet, we’ll give you a chance to do that now (don’t worry — it’s nothing bad!). Pretty exciting, right?

For anyone who hasn’t participated in the trend yet, Facebook has apparently rolled out a fun new feature that turns the letters “GG” pink and then plays the animation of a fist bump if you click on them. That’s nice and everything, but what exactly does it mean? We’ve got you covered.

First, a quick explanation of why the letters “GG” turn pink when you type them in a comment on Facebook. You actually may have come across a similar surprise when typing other words in comments. If you type “Congratulations” or “Congrats,” the text will turn orange and launch a balloons-and-confetti animation if they’re clicked. “You’re the best” triggers a shooting star animation. “You’ve got this” results in a bunch of rainbow-colored thumbs up emoji bouncing across the screen.

These are part of Facebook’s Text Delights, a semi-secret set of Easter eggs that only appear when you type certain words in a comment. It doesn’t look as though Facebook has published a list of which words trigger animations, apparently meaning for people to discover them on their own whenever they type a comment. And now, people have discovered that “GG” is one.

OK, but why do the letters trigger the special Text Delight effect on Facebook? For that, you may want to check in with someone who enjoys online gaming (or you can just keep reading). GG stands for “good game,” and it has been a popular phrase among gamers for literal decades. 

As online games — especially StarCraft — started gaining popularity in the ‘90s, proper etiquette between players was also established. One of the unwritten rules for online gamers was that at the end of the match, you should type “GG” in the chat to indicate that your opponent had played well. In fact, “GGWP” (good game, well played) also became a popular shorthand.

People still use “GG” in plenty of games today, and it has crossed the threshold into non-gamer parlance as well. Depending on the types (and ages) of people you spend time with, you may have even heard people say it in real life. And now that it’s a Facebook trend, it’s probably only a matter of time before your aunts, uncles, and grandmothers start saying “GG” with absolutely zero sense of irony. Thanks, Facebook!

We won’t deny that the fist bump animation is kind of fun to watch. You can even click the pink “GG” more than once to get different versions of the fist bump. Facebook really went all out for this one, huh? Anyway, we hope this has helped you solve the great mystery of the pink “GG” on Facebook! Happy commenting!