Facebook Is Finally Launching A ‘Dislike’ Button
Mark Zuckerberg says the new option will allow Facebook users to ‘express empathy’
Facebook users will finally get the ability to tell the world that they don’t approve of things as the social network gears up to launch a ‘Dislike’ option.
The much-requested feature was mentioned by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg during an online Q&A session, but it won’t be as simple as a polar opposite to the ‘Like’ function currently in place.
Instead, Facebook wants the ‘Dislike’ button to allow users to express their sympathy with, or empathy towards, content other users have posted, Zuckerberg said.
Expressive
“What (Facebook users) really want is an ability to express empathy,” said Zuckerberg. “If you’re expressing something sad… it may not feel comfortable to ‘like’ that post, but your friends and people want to be able to express that they understand.”
Adding that it was ‘a surprisingly complicated task’ to build in a Dislike button, Zuckerberg said that the company has an idea that it will soon begin testing.
The introduction of new features is one way to ensure that Facebook maintains its status as one of the world’s favourite and most visited websites.
The company revealed last month that August 24 had seen more than one billion people accessing Facebook for the first time over a single day, meaning one in seven people across the world logged into the social network.
This is despite recent reports claiming that many users were abandoning the site, whilst some critics said that teenagers think Facebook is no longer cool and are therefore jumping ship to rival social networks.
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