Facebook to get a 'dislike button'

The option to Dislike posts is perhaps the most asked for feature on the popular social network

Facebook might finally get a dislike button but it’s not where you would expect.

The popular social networking portal is reportedly working on a new feature that would allow users to add emojis to messages from others the same way they do with News Feed posts.

PHOTO: TECHCRUNCH

TechCrunch has reported that some Facebook users are now seeing a reactions option in Messenger when they hover over messages sent to them by friends. Tapping on the new feature gives the option to attach a little thumbs-up Like, thumbs-down Dislike, or a heart-eyes, lol, wow, sad or angry emoji.



Facebook confirmed this new feature to TechCrunch, saying “We’re always testing ways to make Messenger more fun and engaging. This is a small test where we enable people to share an emoji that best represents their feelings on a message.”

PHOTO: TECHCRUNCH

The option to Dislike posts is perhaps the most asked for feature on the social network. However, Facebook has refrained from injecting too much negativity into the feed and hence it never built one. Instead, Facebook rolled out Reactions so that users could share more nuanced emotions quickly, while leaving disliking for the comments.



The site, however, sees the new feature as more of a “no” button than a Dislike option citing the fact that  people often use Messenger for planning and coordination, and that it is experimenting to see if Reactions are helpful for quick logistics and voting. However, it is only natural that users will see it as a Dislike button than as a Yes/No option.