Dee Friesen | Arts + Life Editor
Picture this: you’re scrolling through Facebook liking the good news your sister posted, the picture of the puppy your friend just bought, the baby your cousin just had, and an old picture of you and your grandma that your aunt posted. Suddenly you see a bad-news post. What do you do? Do you like it? Do you comment? It’s a constant struggle to decide what to do when someone you know posts bad news on Facebook.
On September 15, 2015, Mark Zuckerberg held a Q+A session. People from all over the world attended to ask Zuckerberg about the future of Facebook and much more. An unexpected answer to a single question has stunned social media for the past few days. “Judging by the success of the like button, has there been any conversations about adding a dislike button?”
Zuckerberg explained the two different ways a dislike button could go. The first option, he would like to try to prevent.
“Some people have asked for a dislike button because they want to be able to say, ‘that thing isn’t good,’ and that’s not something that we think is good for the world,” said Zuckerberg.
He went on to explain that his goal isn’t to add a voting mechanism to Facebook to determine the value of an individuals post.
What he would like to see is an easy way for Facebook users to express different types of emotions towards posts other than commenting.
“A lot of times people share things on Facebook that are sad moments in their lives or are tough cultural or social things and often people tell us that they don’t feel comfortable pressing like because like isn’t the appropriate sentiment when someone lost a loved one or is talking about a very difficult issue,” said Zuckerberg.
As much as this excites us Facebook users, Zuckerberg’s team is still working on the right way to approach this project, so don’t be looking for a dislike button any time soon.
“We don’t have anything that is coming soon, but it is an important area of discussion,” said Zuckerberg.
Here are thoughts from fellow students:
“I don’t think that a dislike button is necessary. If you don’t like something, just don’t like it! I think that a dislike button would just cause a lot of problems that are unnecessary. It could also make cyber bullying worse than it already is.” – Alyssa Kragelund
“I’m kind on both ends of it. I think it’s a good idea for people to see true opinion but can break people down on what they believe.” – Lydia Winkler
“I think a dislike button would be great! Especially for things that you want to show support for but don’t necessarily like in a good way.” – Kayla Wilson
What do you think? Would a dislike button be a good addition to Facebook, or would it be a tool for online trolls or bullies to use to discourage others? How would other ways to express emotion towards a post without commenting look? Whatever the outcome, it will be interesting to see what Zuckerberg and his Facebook team come up with in order to achieve to their goal.
Visit this link for the full Q+A session with Mark Zuckerberg!
Graphic by Dee Friesen
