09-19-2015, 02:12 PM
After years of refusing to build one, the social network is finally going to give us a way to express something other than a Like. In the end the social networking site has decided to create a dislike button for its users. Youtube had already started using a like and dislike button for their videos long time ago. Now Facebook is creating one.
Despite telling the public for a long time that the social network wasn’t planning to build a “dislike” button, a counter to its iconic “like” button, Facebook has apparently changed its mind. During a Q&A session Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed his company has indeed been working on one.
“People have asked about the ‘dislike’ button for many years, and probably hundreds of people have asked about this,” he said.
Zuckerberg has admitted in the past that the company has considered building a Dislike button, but ultimately decided against it.
Presumably, it had to do with the fact that at the time it didn’t want to integrate a way to express negativity toward other users, or create a system of up voting or down voting, as online news forum Reddit does.
“That isn’t what we’re here to build in the world,” Zuckerberg said on Tuesday.
However, Facebook does recognize that people sometimes want to express something other than “liking,” but are currently left with no truly good option.
He added that the goal is to let users 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,” he continued. “Everyone feels like they can just push the Like button, and that’s an important way to sympathize or empathize with someone. But there are times when you may want the simplicity of a one-click response but a “like” doesn’t feel appropriate.”
Despite telling the public for a long time that the social network wasn’t planning to build a “dislike” button, a counter to its iconic “like” button, Facebook has apparently changed its mind. During a Q&A session Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed his company has indeed been working on one.
“People have asked about the ‘dislike’ button for many years, and probably hundreds of people have asked about this,” he said.
Zuckerberg has admitted in the past that the company has considered building a Dislike button, but ultimately decided against it.
Presumably, it had to do with the fact that at the time it didn’t want to integrate a way to express negativity toward other users, or create a system of up voting or down voting, as online news forum Reddit does.
“That isn’t what we’re here to build in the world,” Zuckerberg said on Tuesday.
However, Facebook does recognize that people sometimes want to express something other than “liking,” but are currently left with no truly good option.
He added that the goal is to let users 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,” he continued. “Everyone feels like they can just push the Like button, and that’s an important way to sympathize or empathize with someone. But there are times when you may want the simplicity of a one-click response but a “like” doesn’t feel appropriate.”