Over the years, Facebook has proven its ability to really understand its audience. While we appreciate Facebook’s commitment to our wants and needs, there’s one thing that’s always been missing: the Dislike button. Because really, we can’t like everything all the time, right?
After years of refusal, Facebook recently announced that the much-requested Dislike button – or something similar – is finally in development. “What they really want is the ability to express empathy. Not every moment is a good moment,”explained Zuckerberg. While Zuckerberg has yet to confirm that the update will introduce a literal thumbs down option, he has promised “more options than just ‘Like’ as a quick way to emote and share what you’re feeling on a post.”
Facebook has long refused to build a “Dislike” button over concerns it would invite rampant negativity. “That isn’t what we’re here to build in the world,” Zuckerberg said. “We didn’t want to just 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 we want to create. You don’t want to go through the process of sharing some moment that’s important to you in your day and then have someone down vote it. That isn’t what we’re here to build in the world.”
An official release date has yet to be announced, but you can learn more about Zuckerberg’s plans here. Or, the Q&A session where Zuck discusses “dislike” is below: