Facebook unveils plan for a ‘dislike’ button

Facebook unveils plan for a ‘dislike’ button

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will soon release a button that lets users “sympathize” last Tuesday during a livestream Q&A session from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park.

In earlier years, Facebook has been reluctant to build a “dislike” button out of fear that Facebook will turn into a forum where people are “voting up or down” on other people’s posts.

In spite of that, Zuckerberg is now amenable to the idea of a “dislike” button that helps convey support or solidarity. When people post about tragic moments in their life, users often become stuck in a conundrum: it seems inappropriate to like the post, but they still want to express their support for the poster.

“Over the years of people asking for this, what we kind have come to understand is that [what] the people really want to express is empathy,” Zuckerberg said in the Q&A. “Not every moment is a good moment.”

The unveiling of the plan for the “dislike” button generated mixed reactions among the student body. Some students echoed Zuckerberg’s sentiments, while others felt that the button would generate negativity or disagreed with Zuckerberg’s intended purpose for the button.

Alexander Henshall (12) felt that the Zuckerberg’s portrayal of the “dislike” button mismatched its actual purpose.

“I think the way Mark Zuckerberg worded it was very interesting,” he said. “I just always assumed that a dislike button was meant to show disapproval, sort of like ‘Oh, that shouldn’t have been said.’”

Other students felt that the button could be used as a tool for giving and receiving criticism.

“They’re not trying to insult people with a dislike button,” Gary Tsai (10) said. “I think the dislike button will only be for criticism, and especially [for] student council ideas, I think that would be a good way to pioneer criticism.”

Students also looked at the possible consequences for the Harker community with the “dislike” button.

“Though it’ll probably have a positive effect because everyone will know what everyone else is feeling, it might hurt people when they see that their post has been disliked,” Jacqueline He (10) said. “It kind of ruins their self-esteem a little bit.”

Zuckerberg announced that the button is almost ready for testing, and users may soon have a way to empathize without using the “like” button.