Facebook Working on a Dislike Button (Sort Of)


Your wishes are about to come true, Facebook users: A dislike button is on the way. Or at least something like it.


"People have asked about the 'dislike' button for many years," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during a live Q&A session Tuesday, according to The Washington Post. "Today is a special day, because today is the day I can say we're working on it and shipping it."

The move is somewhat of an about-face for Facebook and its CEO, who in December said the social network had no plans for a dislike button because a virtual thumbs-down could be more harmful than helpful. But, today he admitted such a feature could be useful.

"Not every moment is a good moment," he said, according to the Post. "If you share something that's sad, like a refugee crisis that touches you or a family member passes away — it may not be comfortable to like that post."

But don't expect Facebook to turn into Reddit anytime soon. Zuckerberg reiterated previous statements that he doesn't want to create a voting system on Facebook, where posts are deemed good or bad. So, instead of a straight dislike button, Facebook is working on "something that allows you to express 'empathy' with 'more options,'" the Post reported.

"Perhaps this could mean not a single button but rather a range of possible responses that offer alternatives to the like without being its direct opposite," the newspaper speculated.

Rumors of such a feature date back to 2013, when word spread that Facebook toyed with the idea of adding a "sympathize" button to the social network, for when "like" doesn't quite apply.

For now, we'll just have to wait and see what Facebook ends up rolling out.

Source: pcmag.com
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