Although the company denied it would ever happen, Facebook is finally working on a new “Dislike” button for the social network.
The news was announced during a Q&A session with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today, although details about the dislike button itself were scarce, according to CNBC.
Facebook’s previous anti-dislike button stance actually made a lot of sense, as the company didn’t want its users actively spreading negativity to things shared on the social network — nor did it want to provide a new way for people to be trolled or harassed. I’d imagine the bulk of this opinion, though, had to do with sponsored or promoted content that brands and companies pay Facebook to target key demographics.
Therefore, when we do finally see the dislike button debut, don’t expect it to function much like the current “Like” button. That means you probably won’t be able to see a list of all the people that dislike a page or status update. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook didn’t even include the total number of times people “dislike” something — both for users and certainly for developers.
But while Facebook might not want its users spreading dislikes all over the place, it is likely that it does want to know when you don’t like something. You’ve already been able to tell the company on targeted advertising — and when you hide things from your post, that too suggests you “dislike” it. None of that data is available to the public, but you can bet Facebook uses it to make its product better.
Whatever form the dislike button takes, it should at minimum do one positive thing for Facebook: Increase the activity (and perhaps time spent) people spend on the social network.
Via The Verge
A ‘Dislike’ button is finally coming to Facebook originally published by Gigaom, © copyright 2015.
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