Facebook is working on "Dislike" button, says Mark Zuckerberg

It’s official. Facebook will bring in the long awaited “Dislike” button.

In a recent question and answer session, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, announced the company is working on a “dislike” button and will soon start testing it.

“Probably hundreds of people have asked about this, and today is a special day because today is the day that I actually get to say we are working on it, and are very close to shipping a test of it,” he said at the session held at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

He specifically mentioned he took a long time before taking the leap. It appears the button might not be called the “Dislike” button as he never wanted Facebook to become a “forum” where people can vote “up or down on people's posts”. He also didn’t want the “Dislike” button to be a mechanism where people could downvote other’s opinions.

“It is surprisingly complicated to make an interaction that will be simple”, said Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg believes what people really want is the ability to “express empathy”. He further confirmed it’s important to give people more options apart from “Like” to express emotions like compassion. Facebook has been working on it and they’ve an idea that will soon be tested.

After the introduction of the “Like” button, a “Dislike” button was then requested by followers and users. That’s because it becomes inappropriate to hit the “Like” button when a friend posts about a bad day, a distressing moment or the sudden demise of family member.

Facebook has been experimenting on a “sympathize” button to express gloomier emotions, reported The Huffington Post in 2013. In another session in 2014, Zuckerberg mentioned the company won’t come up with a functionality that will enable people to express “that thing isn’t good” as it doesn’t appear to be good for the world, reported CBC News.

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