Don't let the headlines mislead you. Facebook isn't introducing a "dislike" button any time soon. At the Facebook public town hall meeting at Menlo Park, California, the Facebook CEO responded to a query submitted online by a user that asked why there were no buttons along the lines of "I'm sorry", "interesting" or "dislike" in addition to the classic thumbs-up "like" button.
"Probably hundreds of people have asked about this, and today is a special day because today is the day where I actually get to say we are working on it and are very close to shipping a test of it," Zuckerberg replied.
At the same time, Zuckerberg clarified that they "didn't just want to build a dislike button" because "we don't want to turn Facebook into a forum where people are voting up or down on people's posts. That doesn't seem like the kind of community that we want to create."
"People aren't looking for the ability to downvote other people's posts," Zuckerberg said. That is how a "dislike" button would function. Instead Facebook wants to enable users to "express empathy." Which means that the button Facebook is working on, isn't going to be a "dislike" button as is being widely reported.
Zuckerberg said he understood that it was awkward to click "like" on a post about events such as a death in the family or the current refugee crisis and that there should be a better way for users to "express that they understand and that they relate to you."
"We've been working on this for a while, actually. It's surprisingly complicated to make," Zuckerberg added. This complication has led to some confusion about it being the "dislike" button or not.
(With inputs from AFP Relaxnews)
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