A ‘Dislike’ button is finally coming to Facebook

Virtually since the inception of Facebook’s iconic “like” button, users have clamored for the inclusion of a “dislike” alternative for content they do not endorse. “Not every moment is a good moment”.

“People have asked about the “dislike” button for many years”, Zuckerberg said at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. If you share something that’s sad like a refugee crisis that touches you or a family member passes away, it may not be comfortable to like that post…I do think it’s important to give people more options than liking it.

Zuckerberg did not say when the “Dislike” button will launch, but it’s officially on its way, BuzzFeed adds. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook didn’t even include the total number of times people “dislike” something – both for users and certainly for developers. It will be in the testing phase soon.

Facebook has resisted creating a “dislike” button as a companion to its “like” button, fearing it would sow seeds of discontent on the world’s most popular social network.

However, Zuckerberg believes that Dislike button will be used not as a negative, but to display empathy towards an event or status, i.e. somebody failing a driving test or being stood up at the altar. He doesn’t want to see Facebook turn into one of those communities where people just vote for or against someone else’s post or beliefs, CNBC reported.

Developing a wider range of clickable responses has been “surprisingly complicated”, Zuckerberg confided. In 2013, Facebook engineers designed a “sympathize” button during a hackathon.