To dislike or not to dislike

Don’t we all stumble across annoying posts on our Facebook walls, on a daily basis; posts that we wish we could publicly disapprove of. Well, Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook is working on a ‘Dislike’ button that will help people express emotion outside of the ‘Like’ button.

Facebook originally had a dislike button but eventually removed it and from thereon it’s only been the like button. Social media users have for ages been requesting Mark Zuckerberg to bring back the dislike button and though Zuckerberg was ambiguous about the nature and function of the button, he did confirm that the dislike button was in the pipeline.

“People have asked about the ‘Dislike’ button for many years, and probably hundreds of people have asked about this, and today is a special day because today is the day that I actually get to say we are working on it, and are very close to shipping a test of it,” Zuckerberg said at the company headquarters in California but stressed that it wouldn’t be a way for users to ‘downvote’ posts but rather as a way to express emotion apart from the ‘Like’ Button.

Facebook though is wary of the issues that could crop up by bringing back the dislike button. Facebook has been generally a social network site that thrives on approval and positivity and thus could affect the social media strategies of businesses on Facebook. The dislike button could see negative backlashes against annoying posts and could also be used as a way to be intentionally rude.

Zuckerberg also added that he didn’t want the dislike button to function as upvoting and downvoting system similar to that of Reddit.

“What they really want is the ability to express empathy. Not every moment is a good moment. We need to figure out the right way to do it so it ends up being a force for good, not a force for bad. Everyone feels like they can just push the ‘Like’ button, and that’s an important way to sympathise or empathise with someone,” Zuckerberg said “But there are times when you may want the simplicity of a one-click response but a ‘like’ doesn’t feel appropriate.”

The move could see Facebook turn into a more reactive and responsive platform that will balance out the good and bad.