Facebook creating ‘dislike’ button to state empathy, Zuckerberg says

Facebook is going beyond the “like” button, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday.

The social network is working on something akin to a “dislike” button, Mr. Zuckerberg said during a wide-ranging Q&A at Facebook’s headquarters that was streamed online.

But it will not be easy. Zuckerberg said Facebook needs to restrict use of the button to disturbing or expressing empathy when someone posts something sad.

Zuckerberg said it was a surprisingly complex job to create the button. However, the firm comes with an idea that it’ll shortly start testing.

Facebook continues to be asked of a dislike button for a long time, but the firm did not need to simply give users an easy means to criticize a Facebook status. Zuckerberg said Facebook has discovered that users do not need to vote down others, but would like to express support when someone shares something gloomy, such as an article about the refugee catastrophe or news about a family member expiring.

“What they really want is an ability to express empathy,” Zuckerberg. “If you’re expressing something sad… it may not feel comfortable to ‘like’ that post, but your friends and people want to be able to express that they understand.”