Facebook is Creating a ‘Dislike’ Button to Help Users Express “Empathy”

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg was originally skeptical of implementing a ‘dislike’ button but appears to have had a change of heart. Apparently, the ‘dislike’ function is now a necessity to “express empathy” and offer support to friends in bleak moments. Zuckerberg explained his plans and said:

“I think people have asked about the Dislike button for many years,”

What [users] really want is the ability to express empathy. Not every moment is a good moment.”

“We’ve talked about for a while how can people express a wider range of emotions.”

According to Zuckerberg, it could be some time until the button is publicly revealed:

“It’s surprisingly complicated to make an interaction that will be simple.”

In all honestly, I think this is an incredibly naive move and open to flagrant abuse. At first glance, it appears fairly suitable as friends shouldn’t begin trolling each other and disliking their activities. However, Facebook is awash with business pages, groups and other content which could turn into a colossal mess. I wouldn’t be surprised to see work acquaintances behaving in a petty manner as “friends” on Facebook can refer to a whole host of various relationships. In reality, it’s impossible to maintain more than perhaps 20 close-friendships and people with over 1000 “friends” could be targeted by people on their contacts list.

Unfortunately, people turn to social media for communication and rely on it too much. Therefore, many add so-called, “friends” to appear more popular and successful to their peers. I believe the ‘dislike’ button will only create a cesspool of hatred in a similar vein to Reddit comment sections, then again I could be wrong.

Thank you Digitalspy for providing us with this information.