Facebook finally seems to be responding to users’ on-going requests to add a ‘Dislike’ button to posts and updates.
During a question-&-answer session at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California that was streamed live on Facebook on Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg said that the company was now testing alternatives to the ‘Like’ button. He said “People have asked about the ‘dislike’ button for many years… Today is the day that I actually get to say we are working on it.”
Now, although Zuckerberg says that this button is going to be for displaying disdain for a post, it most likely will not be labelled ‘Dislike‘. So, when we see a post that contains negative news, such as a natural disaster, users will be able to use the button to give credit to and grow the reach of the post without clicking the ‘Like’ button inappropriately.
For example, if someone posts some bad news about the health of a friend or family member, we obviously want to show we care, but the ‘Like’ button would hardly represent our condolences in the fashion we intend.
Zuckerberg said:
“Some people have asked for a dislike button because they want to be able to say ‘that thing isn’t good,’ and we’re not going to do that. I don’t think that’s socially very valuable, or great for the community.”
There’s no official date of when the button will be added to the social network, but at least now we know that it’s officially in development.
