Share

Facebook to finally get alternative to ‘Like’ button

That doesn’t seem like the kind of community we want to create.

Advertisement

In an answer to a question from an audience member about what is Zuckerberg’s favorite emoji, the chief executive said his favorite sticker was the “cactus” and an image of his dog, Beast. Meaning, it’s more about letting your friend know you feel sad her dog died and less about hating on her endless vacation photos.

Zuckerberg said the company is “very close” to rolling out a test version.

But thank you for all the feedback on this over the years. Zuckerberg said that Facebook has veered away from bringing out the “dislike” button as it could be used to reduce the hits to a person’s post. The CEO also spoke about artificial intelligence and automated technology, such as self-driving cars, adding that trepidation over the impending technological advances is “dangerous” and says he’s an “optimist” regarding the future applications of technology.

Zuckerberg, who was recently named the most powerful person in business and media by Vanity Fair, has been holding town halls like these regularly. The tool wouldn’t be for expressing disdain for posts, he said.

Facebook said their intent is to show empathy for posts that are inappropriate to “like”.

Like is an awkward sentiment when someone’s grandma dies. He says it will be something people can click on, mostly to show empathy.

And will it simply be one new button? Will post context determine what that other option is?

Advertisement

But Roger Anderson of Atlanta, a former government microbiologist, wrote, “What’s wrong with a dislike button?” The experiment was based in subtly changing the language of the posts showing up on a user’s newsfeed to either read overwhelmingly positive or predominantly negative. “Not only does this provide Facebook with more data but it has the potential to drive more traffic by providing people a significant new experience”. If you have any experience with Facebooks platform for this, you will be familiar with the social network’s instruction to simply ignore the hurtful posts or to unfriend the damaging people.

FILE- In this