Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has admitted he is considering adding a button to convey negative emotions, but has confirmed that it won’t be a ‘dislike’ button for sure.
Addressing a public question and answer session at the company’s headquarters in Northern California on Thursday, the Facebook chief said a dislike button is the most requested feature by users of the social network.
He said users often find themselves in an awkward situation when they need to respond to people’s unhappy posts such as a death in the family or a personal struggle. A ‘dislike’ button could help users sympathize with those dealing with difficult moments in their lives.
“A lot of the times people share things on Facebook that are sad moments in their lives,” Zuckerberg said.
“Often people tell us that they don’t feel comfortable pressing ‘like’ because ‘like’ isn’t the appropriate sentiment. Some people have asked for a dislike button because they want to say, ‘That thing isn’t good.’ That’s not something that we think is good for the world. The thing that I think is very valuable is that there are more sentiments that people want to express.”
However, Zuckerberg said that a button created to share a negative sentiment might end up being used to criticize others or demean posts. He added that the company should evaluate new ways to let users express a broader array of emotions in a more nuanced way.
“We are talking about a right way for people to easily express a broader array of emotions,” Zuckerberg said.
“We need to figure out the right way to do it so that it is a force for good and not a force for bad in demeaning the posts that people are putting out there.”
