And that’s what we’re likely to get with the new dislike button – a way to show support for friends when their posts aren’t exactly positive.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that this is going to change, but not in the way you expect. But like and empathy seems to be the answer even though Zuckerberg didn’t give the real name of the button, he just said we should show empathy. “We’ve finally heard you and we’re working on this and we will deliver something that meets the needs of the larger community”.
Facebook’s lack of a Dislike button has left users unsure of how they should react to negative posts on the social network, for example the death of a family member or losing a job. While we’re all for expressing a range of emotions online, it still seems important that users pause and think before they write something, instead of quickly clicking to a conclusion.
In fact, Facebook’s primary goal is to figure out how to let users “express empathy”, Zuckerberg added, in situations in which liking a status, article, or photo is inappropriate.
Facebook rightly figured out that when people want to “dislike” something they aren’t actually disliking the post, the subject matter or the person posting.
While reaction buttons such as “I’m sorry”, “interesting” or “dislike” have been suggested in the past, Zuckerberg voiced some concern.
It’s not clear that it would actually be called a “dislike” button.
Facebook already has options to hide posts, people and ads that they don’t care about. Facebook doesn’t want to give more hostile tools to users.
“You don’t want to go through the process of sharing something that’s important to you and have other people down vote it”, Zuckerberg explained.
“It’s surprisingly complicated to make an interaction that you want to be that simple”. So it’s not a “dislike” button afterall?
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Zuckerberg said the company is “very close” to rolling out a test version. 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.
