Despite telling the public for years a “dislike” button wouldn’t happen, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday the social media giant officially has one in the works, according to Business Insider.
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The like button will not be joined by a “dislike” button, however.
But a dislike-type button has finally been given a green light, and – regardless of the eventual format – should provide useful fodder for Facebook’s algorithm for curating your news, reports Time. The Facebook founder believes that people don’t really even want a “dislike” button; they want a way to convey empathy when met with an unfortunate or tragic post. While some said they would use Facebook more if the button were introduced, others said it would lead to cyberbullying and more negativity on the site.
Zuckerberg then revealed the catch – the company hasn’t been working on a “dislike” button, but rather an alternative option that doesn’t give people the opportunity to downvote. “That doesn’t seem like the kind of community we want to create”, said Zuckerberg.
I liked this and 117 of your other posts because I’m alone at this party and I’m trying to look busy.
He said he understood that it was awkward to click “like” on a post about events such as a death in the family or the current refugee crisis and that there should be a better way for users to “express that they understand and that they relate to you”.
“Not every moment is a good moment, right?”
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Considering Facebook is by far the largest driver of traffic to news publications, this feature has the potential to be a big deal.
