Facebook is finally creating a 'Dislike' button - but it won't be designed to
foster negativity.
The social network's CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced at a Facebook townhall that
the new option will be geared towards allowing users to express "empathy".
"I think people have asked about the Dislike button for many years," he
explained. "Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we're
working on it and shipping it."
The tech billionaire continued: "What [users] really want is the ability to
express empathy. Not every moment is a good moment."
A roll-out for the new option is expected soon, although Zuckerberg admitted:
"It's surprisingly complicated to make an interaction that will be simple."
Previously, a Facebook engineer publicly insisted that a Dislike button would
never be created because it could discourage sharing.
Zuckerberg also seemed to rule out Disliking on Facebook late last year,
saying: "Some people have asked for a Dislike button so they can say something
isn't good, and we're not going to do that. I don't think that's good for the
community.
"We've talked about for a while how can people express a wider range of
emotions."
His comments last December came amidst early reports that Facebook was working
on ways for users to display displeasure.
