Facebook Will Finally Give You That Dislike Button You’ve Been Asking For

After years and years of users clamoring for a “Dislike” button for less than favorable Facebook posts, users may be poised to get their wish. During a media event at Facebook HQ in San Francisco, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg fielded questions from those in attendance, including one in particular about a dislike button. His answer served to not only let users know the direction Facebook was heading in, but if we’d ever truly genuinely get a dislike button.That answer is a resounding no. Zuckerberg doesn’t want to roll out a dislike button, rather something that allows you to express empathy for posts that may be about a loss of a relative or something dealing with a natural disaster. The current set-up of your Facebook newsfeed is controlled by an algorithm that essentially curates content based on posts that you’ve liked. So, in theory if you’ve liked a ton of posts about ghetto street fights, mistreatment of refugees, and the Confederate Flag, chances are your news feed will be filled with negativity. As with all content available on Facebook, you can like it or not like it. The current status-quo is hitting the like button even if your buddy is posting about being sad about the loss of a family member. With this new button, Facebook will allow you to be able to express a feeling of grief, understanding, or empathy.

The goal isn’t to add a button to allow us to troll our friends when they post pictures of their kids, but to give Facebook another dimension, while allowing us to discover even more content. The only question now is, with an added “downvote” or “disapprove” button, how much more will that change our newsfeed?