September 16, 2015 Danielle Vincent

Facebook announces the "dislike" button. "Liking" this is the ultimate irony.

Image credit: Softpedia

Heyyyyyy! Facebook announced it is working on a "dislike" button (well, not actually a "dislike" button, per se, but a button to express empathy).

“I think people have asked about the dislike button for many years,” Zuckerberg said. “Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we’re working on it and shipping it.”

The exact form a “Dislike” button may take is still up in the air. “What [users] really want is the ability to express empathy,” Zuckerberg added. “Not every moment is a good moment.”

I realize this isn't exactly soap-related news, but you may or may not know that I love me some Facebooks. So I think it's relevant and you get to read it.

Too Negative?

The reason Facebook didn't want to have the "dislike" button is because they were concerned it would be spreading negativity. At first, that seemed ridiculous. But what if people were jerks about it?

"I got a new puppy! Isn't he great?"

... [subtle judgement] "dislike."

But what about when tragedies happen and people share their feelings, like when my friend talked about her family and friends being displaced by the Lake County Fire and losing all their belongings? We can't like that, but we can want to give a hug.