Social Networking: ‘Dislike’ button not good for the world

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg wants people to be able to quickly express broader ranges of feelings at the leading online social network, but a “dislike” button doesn’t make the cut.

During a question-and-answer session with an audience at the Facebook headquarters in Northern California, available online Friday, Zuckerberg gave a thumbs-down to the idea of a button to register disdain for posts at the social network.

“That’s not something that we think is good for the world,” Zuckerberg said, expressing concern that “like” and “dislike” buttons could turn into a voting system to judge posts.

“The thing that I think is very valuable is that there are more sentiments that people want to express.”

While Facebook’s well-known thumbs-up “like” buttons let people easily show support or enthusiasm for posts, some folks think the sentiment seems off-target for somber subjects such as news of death or other sadness in the lives of friends.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2014.

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