Facebook's 'dislike' button: It's not what you immediately think

https://vimeo.com/139401042

During a live question-and-answer session streamed on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the social media giant is testing alternatives to the ‘like’ button – but it’s not what you think.

Rather ‘downvoting’ posts as such, the button’s intended use will be for empathising with sad posts.

“We don’t want to turn Facebook into a forum where people are voting up or down on people’s posts,” the CEO confirmed. “That doesn’t seem like the kind of community we want to create.

“People aren’t looking for an ability to downvote other people’s posts. What they really want is to be able to express empathy. Not every moment is a good moment, right? And if you are sharing something that is sad, whether it’s something in current events like the refugee crisis that touches you or if a family member passed away, then it might not feel comfortable to Like that post.”

There’s great potential for confusion here. Using the current refugee crisis as an example, if a user were to dislike a sympathetic post towards the topic, would this mean they dislike the sympathy shown, or the situation?

Since the button is only in ‘testing’ stage, we’ll have to stay tuned for more updates that will hopefully eliminate any confusion.