UPDATE – Facebook figured out a way to make the button work : https://www.facebook.com/zuck/videos/vob.4/10102413019800771/?type=2&theater
Update: Thanks to John Boitnott of INC Magazine for mentioning us in his story http://www.inc.com/john-boitnott/what-facebook-is-really-after-is-a-support-button-.html – much appreciated John 🙂
The internet lost its collective mind yesterday over the announcement that Mark Zuckerberg was creating a Facebook Dislike button – apparently the millions of Facebook users who have clamored for this for years thought they were finally being heard.
This was pretty heady stuff…for about 24 hours.
Today we discovered that it is not, in fact, going to be called a Dislike button. Nor will it have anything to do with disliking anything. At all. Apparently there was some concern that a Dislike button could lead to pissing contests of a sort. (On Facebook? That would never happen!)
Sorry, all you haters and trolls, the new button’s purpose is not about to make life easier for your negative messaging.
Instead, Zuckerberg is aiming for a button that allows users to show support because:
“Not every moment is a good moment, right? And if you are sharing something that is sad, whether it’s something in current events like the refugee crisis that touches you or if a family member passed away, then it might not feel comfortable to Like that post. But your friends and people want to be able to express that they understand and that they relate to you.”
You can read more here.
On reflection, this is actually a good idea. Who hasn’t had a friend or family member go through a rough time – job loss, home loss, serious illness, loss of a loved one, etc., then share it on Facebook, only to have people hesitate over the idea of hitting the Like button as a way of showing support? #AwkwardMoment.
If we really don’t like someone’s post we already have two choices available to us – we can let the post scroll by and simply not engage with it because we have better things to do with our time – OR – we can voice our dislike in the comments section.
Perhaps the question is: Do we need a Dislike button at all?
Want to know more? Here’s the video:
