Facebook users have debated for a long time whether or not the social networking service should have a “dislike” button alongside its famous “like” feature. Now there’s word direct from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that a “dislike” button is not only in the works, but it closer to a launch than you might think.
“People have asked about the ‘dislike’ button for many years, and 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. Zuckerberg said that he didn’t want such a button to be similar to the “downvote” post feature that’s used on sites like Reddit
Instead, Zuckerberg said, the new feature will allow people to “express empathy” with their Facebook friends, explaining what many users of the social media platform already knew: “If you are sharing something that is sad…then it may not feel comfortable to ‘like’ that post.” Zuckerberg did not offer a specific time table for when or how the “dislike” button would be tested on Facebook.
