Mark Zuckerberg thinks it’s time everyone had more than a like button when responding to Facebook posts.
When you spot a Facebook comment that’s offensive, rage-inducing, or genuinely tragic, are you going to “like” it? Absolutely not – but for years, the Thumbs-Up button was the only option Facebook offered. Now that period might finally be coming to an end. During a Q&A livestreamed from Facebook headquarters, Mark Zuckerberg said users can soon do more than like something – they can click on a “dislike” button, so to speak.
Since its inception Facebook avoided putting dislike buttons on its pages, believing it associates the social media platform with negativity. True or not, that approach limits the range of emotions we can express on a shared post or status update. “It’s important to give people more options than just ‘like’ to help express empathy and sympathy,” Zuckerberg explained. “Not every moment is a good moment.”
And he’s absolutely right. Take the last month alone, where some of Facebook’s most-shared stories involved the horrific plight of Syrian refugees. On a more individual level, how does one respond when seeing a close friend or family member has died? Nobody “likes” these stories, but until Facebook adds new options, we’re limited to manually typing out comments. Which isn’t a bad approach, but not everyone is motivated to do so.
That being said, Zuckerberg’s option won’t necessarily be a simple dislike button. Last December, Zuckerberg told his Q&A audience, “Some people have asked for a dislike button because they want to say, ‘That thing isn’t good.’ And that’s not something that we think is good for the world. So we’re not going to build that.”
So what might Facebook offer instead? It might just replace the Thumbs-Up button entirely, dropping Happy and Sad faces in their place. Needless to say, Facebook’s designers will put quite a bit of thought into them before unveiling new buttons to the public. What “dislike” option do you think Facebook will come up with?
Source: USA Today
