Thumbs up or thumbs down? The Drum readers have their say on the Facebook ‘dislike’ button
Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week revealed that the social network was looking to give users a chance to show more empathy with the implementation of a new suite of buttons.
Answering whether the social network would ever introduce a dislike button (something Zuckerberg has been completely against), the Facebook founder admitted that the social network is tinkering with such a tool to enable the expression of a greater range of emotions - such as dislike.
Having opened the forum to social media marketers, The Drum put the following question out to its Twitter community.
Get involved: Will you be using Facebook's new dislike button? Tweet us a reply #FBYes #FBNo. pic.twitter.com/j5FrlPDoRU http://t.co/vqFKI84Eet
— The Drum (@TheDrum) September 16, 2015
After several hours of patience, we found that 71.6 per cent of respondents answered #FBYes. A full 28.3 per cent were opposed to a ‘dislike’ button on the site.
Some readers thought it would be a welcome addition to help people acknowledge tragedy and loss.
@TheDrum Seems wrong to "like" bad news - accidents, deaths, break-ups, etc. Maybe this will let you publicly acknowledge bad news. #FBYes
— Daniel Rae (@danielrae83) September 16, 2015
@TheDrum #FBYes for posts that require it, saddening news for example. Would damage the community if it became like up voting/ down voting.
— Parker. (@jamesparrrker) September 16, 2015
@TheDrum I’d rather see something like ‘agree’ than ‘dislike’. But agree people can feel weird with ‘like’ on negative news.
— Daniel_Weisbeck (@Daniel_Weisbeck) September 16, 2015
@TheDrum #FBYes - if they use @facebook to communicate bad news, disliking it is fine!
— Nick Cole (@fk3nick) September 15, 2015
Some skeptics reckoned the button could be abused.
@TheDrum I'm not sure a further outlet for negativity and lack of nuance is what social media needs, to be honest.
— Ross McKay (@RossMc11) September 16, 2015
#Facebook to finally get a #dislikebutton...not too sure how I feel about this, could be dangerous! http://t.co/ZiFtuz6IlM @TheDrum
— Kristina M (@KristinaMcGuirk) September 16, 2015
@beckywhitepr @TheDrum this could (will) end in tears!
— Nic (@Strawbry_Blonde) September 16, 2015
#fbno @TheDrum - we don't need more people to be miserable because of bullying on Facebook.
— Andreas Stær (@andreasstaer) September 16, 2015
@TheDrum It's going to have to be a #FBNo for me. Would rather stick with the positive 'like'!
— Emma (@emmajmercer) September 16, 2015
@TheDrum #fbno it would be dangerous
— Gabriele Andreozzi (@gabriandreozzi) September 16, 2015
Others would embrace the dislike button seemingly with gleeful abandon.
I will lose a lot of FB friends due to this! Facebook to get ‘dislike’ button, Mark Zuckerberg says http://t.co/Sa13L8BS78 via @TheDrum
— MariaSourceLF (@MariaSourceLF) September 16, 2015
@TheDrum probably far too much #FBYES.
— Richard Gray (@zumojuice) September 16, 2015
@thedrum It will be hard to resist so I might succumb occasionally
— Diane Young (@SymmetriGal) September 16, 2015
@TheDrum Dislike option is an excellent idea by fb !
— Ranjan Kumar Roy (@b1d9b212a52544e) September 16, 2015
@TheDrum #FBYes because they are full of shit at times
— victorsangma (@sangmavicktor) September 16, 2015
@TheDrum @janebinnion Can we have one that flashes the 'V' sign too?
— The Morgans (@TheMorganics) September 15, 2015
@TheDrum I'll finally have a justified response to minion posts. #FBYes
— Kieran Mc (@KieranMcEniff) September 16, 2015