We’ve waited so long for this moment, it’s hard to believe it’s actually here.
During an interview with CNBC at his corporate headquarters, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has approved the development of the long-sought-after “dislike” button, an addition that would allow users to signal their disapproval of a post or reply without having to compose a catty comment. Business Insider reports that during the interview, Zuckerberg said:
"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.”
It’s a big change for Facebook, a company that’s attempted to emphasize the positive aspects of sharing each and every little thing you do with the world. But, as we all know, not everything we share is positive as there’s just about as much bad-news stories as there are cat videos. As well, users have long desired a way to disapprove of content in a quick and easy way.
Zuckerberg seemed to acknowledge these truths by saying, “What [users] really want is the ability to express empathy. Not every moment is a good moment.” Exactly.
Now, how exactly the “dislike” button will function once deployed and when it will start appearing is still unknown. Will Facebook’s algorithm show you less content from someone whose post you disliked? Will it understand if you’re agreeing with the content of a post and are disliking it because it reports a sad situation? These are all questions that will have to be addressed in the weeks to come, but we’re very interested in hearing the answers.
(Via Business Insider)
