Thumbs up for thumbs down

During a Q&A session at Facebook HQ, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the company is planning to publicly test a Dislike button. It’s finally real. While Zuckerberg had previously suggested Facebook was considering alternatives to ‘liking’ something, this is the first time he has definitively indicated it will ship a Dislike button to users. By the sound of it, we may not even have to wait too long. He was also clear the button won’t be about fostering negativity the way YouTube and Reddit’s downvotes often can. Instead, it’s about “expressing empathy.” Proponents of the dislike button have long argued that the Like button is not appropriate for certain topics – sad news about the refugee crisis, for instance – and that a wider gamut of reactions could help people to more accurately express their emotions without needing to type out a full comment. It’s quite possible the company is working on a wider range of reactions, so posts aren’t limited to simple Likes and Dislikes. Maybe a merger with Google could be next?