Facebook plays a huge role in our daily lives. Almost everyone uses the site on a daily basis, every hour, almost 24/7. This social media giant has also been a valuable medium for news happening around the world. Facebook has changed human interaction. The social media site even gave us emotions and moods. We can find new friends on Facebook, find the love of our lives and also make some new enemies. A small change on this site may lead to a huge difference in people’s lives. After taking action on fake news, Facebook has now created a new option on its messenger app where people can use a ‘dislike’ option. The question now is, could it affect the users? Was this a good move? Or will it be the root of more hate and misunderstanding?
Why ‘dislike’?
This ‘dislike’ button is actually one of the most requested features on Facebook. Now rolling out on a few people, the thumbs down button can be seen on the Messenger app of some users.
“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,” a Facebook representative told TechCrunch.
It was in 2007 when a person (who must be filled with a lot of negativity) created a group to convince Mark Zuckerberg to add thumbs down reaction on Facebook. However, the company was hesitant for this request, thinking it might attract more negativity, or be used for bullying, which big brands wouldn’t like.
After years of consideration, Facebook almost granted the request. In 2015, the company announced they were working on a thumbs-down stickers for the Messenger app.
When the reaction emojis were finally released, however, the thumbs down button was not included. Instead, Facebook included an angry emoji and a crying emoji which also express negative emotions.
Still, the need for the thumbs down button persisted after several years. Today, some people can see the dislike emoji while scrolling on messages on the messenger app. Emoji icons and messages can now be clicked, allowing users to respond using reaction emojis.
Chief product officer Chris Cox wrote on Facebook: “As you can see, it’s not a “dislike” button, though we hope it addresses the spirit of this request more broadly.
We studied which comments and reactions are most commonly and universally expressed across Facebook, then worked to design an experience around them that was elegant and fun.”
“Starting today Ireland and Spain can start loving, wow-ing, or expressing sympathy to posts on Facebook by hovering or long-pressing the Like button wherever they see it.”
“We’ll use the feedback from this to improve the feature and hope to roll it out to everyone soon.”
Getting thumbs down on your messages
The new icons in the Messenger app include a thumbs-up, thumbs-down icon, as well as symbols for love, laughter, shock, sadness and anger. This feature is available to some users but is expected to be rolled out widely if the tests are considered a success.
If this happens, all users of the Messenger app can use the reactions on group chats if they are added to a thread. There will also be a small counter where the user can choose a reaction to a specific message.
Adam Westlake conducted the background about this ‘dislike’ button:
“Facebook may finally be giving users one of their most long-desired features: a dislike button…however, it’s not…turning up in [the] form that users have asked for — as a response in the News Feed — instead it may be coming to Messenger, along with…reactions. The social network has confirmed that it’s testing the two features within its Messenger platform, but only on a limited basis for now.
Going back with this thumbs down button, we’re just hoping it’ll be used for the benefit of all. Though fun, and should not be taken seriously, these reaction emojis must be used wisely. Actually, the entirety of Facebook must be used only for good.”
According to Facebook, they are now trying out this thumbs down button to see if the reaction is helpful for group conversations, especially when there’s a need to vote.
TechCrunch’s Josh Constine reports, “Facebook sees it as more a “no” button, the company tells me. It says people often use Messenger for planning and coordination, and it’s experimenting to see if reactions are helpful for quick logistics and voting. That’s why it’s offering a Yes/No option, even though people will naturally see it as a Dislike button too.”
Facebook has released a reaction emoji for its users in 2016. This feature became extremely popular, which included emoji’s of ‘Like’, ‘Love’, ‘Haha’, ‘Sad’ and ‘Angry.’ Based on yearly statistics conducted by the social media site, ‘love’ is the most used reaction among others. Over 300 billion times the reaction emojis are clicked, half of this is the ‘love’ reaction.
