It’s kind of obvious why this cycle happens: there’s a natural impulse to want to see a “Dislike” button next to Facebook’s ubiquitous Like button, but there are also some real problems with that.
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Zuckerberg revealed the news during a question and answer session.
Founder Mark Zuckerberg made the remark during a townhall meeting at Facebook’s California headquarters, according to Business Insider.
When a Dislike button becomes a reality, companies and users would have to radically shift the strategy of what they post. “If you are sharing something that is sad, whether it’s something in current events like the refugee crisis that touches you or if a family member passed away then it may not feel comfortable to “like” that post”, he said.
Last month Facebook marked a milestone when, for the first time in its history, it recorded one billion users in a single day.
Zuckerberg didn’t offer a timeline for when the “Dislike” button will launch for everyone, but he did say they’ll be testing it with a small group of users in the near future. Today, Zuckerberg announced that new ways to interact are finally on the way.
“But we have an idea that we think we’re getting ready to test soon, and depending on how that goes, we’ll roll it out more broadly”.
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CNBC reported that the thumbs down/dislike option is not expected to work like Reddit’s upvoting and downvoting, but rather to allow users to express an opinion other than liking a post, or as Zuckerberg said “to express empathy”. That said, it could serve as useful for posts on minor grievances, like fender benders or lousy service.
