The much hyped dislike button, or whatever they would call it to be, which Facebook users have been demanding since ages, is likely to be out very soon. People have been demanding for one ever since the ‘Like’ button was launched back in 2009. It is not so for you to go up hating pictures of friend turned foes or exes, but to express ‘empathy’.
At a Q&A session at the social network’s headquarters on Tuesday, the 31-year-old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that he has plans to begin testing soon for some kind of a Dislike button. We’re glad to know that Facebook is finally looking beyond just ‘Likes’.
By this initiative, Facebook expects to have a much better idea on what kind of content people actually care about, and want to see on their timeline.
Facebook’s main attraction for the users is definitely the timeline as users mostly login to scroll down the feed. People are interested in seeing the photos, statuses, and also some news articles popping from some individual favourite apps. The company uses an algorithm to curate the news feed as there is just too much of content flowing over the network. It cannot afford to put it up in chronological order as it did previously. It needs to make things more interesting for people to stick on, so that it does not die out like Orkut.
So to understand what someone likes, there is always a like button. But to get through what people do not like seeing, they cannot simply do guesswork. For this, a button to express that one does not enjoy watching this, was much needed.
As Facebook’s goal is to connect the world, likes and dislikes need to be managed and balanced efficiently to make a good connection among the base of 1.5 million Facebook users. Considering the number of people on the site, there are high levels of discussions, which are thought provoking.
Besides, there are posts, which really sadden you, and you do not want to give it a ‘Like’ for a post of someone having died, or even the picture, which depicts struggles of Syrian refugees. The button that would do the task of disliking would be of great help in such situations to express things rightly, and also refrain you from falling into awkward situations.
“If you’re expressing something sad.. it may not feel comfortable to ‘like’ that post, but your friends and people want to be able to express that they understand,” Zuckerberg said.
In the long term, this would definitely help, as Facebook will be able to keep users glued, and which means getting more ads, which again means more dollars for the company’s shareholders.
