24 Jan Facebook Says No to the Dislike Button

Ever heard of the saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all”? Well, Facebook has apparently took it to heart by denying its users of a “dislike” feature on posts. The “Dislike” button has been the most requested feature of all time, since users deem it necessary for posts from Friends such as in the case of any unfortunate event (death, sickness, bad news).

The Good and the Bad.

A Dislike button, like a double-edged sword, has its pros and cons. One pro of having this button is that finally, users can react appropriately and express their sentiments to statuses or posts implying sympathy without having to type a long comment. Another pro is how posts can be easily used as quick surveys. Imagine instantly gathering inputs about a product, situation, or opinion, from friends and family with just a click. However, having this button also carries a negative social aspect, and may create a gateway for cyberbullying, which is bullying that takes place using electronic technology.

According to Megan Meier Foundation, samples of cyberbullying on Facebook are :

• Creating proxy profiles to harass another user
• Sharing of private information, publicly.
• Spamming
• Instant Messaging harassment (Hateful messages, threats)
• Internet polling (Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?)

In an interview with Tech Radar, Facebook CTO Bret Taylor stated, “I have the feeling that if there were to be a ‘dislike’ button is that you would end up with these really negative social aspects to it,” Taylor explains. “If you want to dislike something, you should probably write a comment, because there’s probably a word for what you want to say. I’m not saying the ‘like’ button isn’t flawed would it be even more complex with a negative sentiment like ‘dislike’.”

Imagine the havoc having the Dislike button will create, especially if Facebook will not have control on how or where it will be used by users. Interesting how one little button can cause this much potential damage right? It kind of makes us proud of Facebook for remaining strong on its stance on not having a “Dislike” button….yet.

You want the fix? Facebook’s got the fix.

So how does Facebook satisfy its user’s demand for expressing negative sentiments? They added two features, one of which is under the status post, and the other feature was added to messages.

In the photo above, users can select from a wide range of “feelings” or even create their own when creating a post. There’s a good variety of emotions and feelings listed, and just recently, we even noticed a “masaya”and “nganga”, which were very amusing to use.

The Messenger also has the dislike emoticon / sticker available which can be used for personal messages.

So for all those still wishing for a Dislike feature, you might just want to use the features listed above as a consolation. If you really must express something negative, just write it as a comment or a post, that way you can expound on your thoughts or feelings better than summing it all up with one word and potentially invite controversy and misunderstanding. Otherwise, if you don’t have anything nice to say, just don’t say it on Facebook where all your Friends (and family) can read it. Or else one of these days, when you get into a fight with someone on Facebook, you’re gonna see this on your comment section:

So no Dislike button for now, but it’s all good, we’re just going to have to settle for good ole fashioned typing-out-our-feelings method, instead of finding one button to express our all our negative sentiments. This actually forces us to practice netiquette by staying positive and being encouraging to one another, which is ideally how we should all act on the digital world anyway.

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