Facebook is reported to be testing the long awaited dislike button, igniting hopes of the same being rolled out on a wider scale some time soon.
A dislike button has long been the demand of dedicated Facebook users, one that would serve as the opposite of the signature Like button that has become so ubiquitous in the social media site. The same might be in the offing soon though in the limited tests that it is being subjected to, it seems to be more of a down-vote sort of a thing than a proper dislike button, a TOI report on this revealed.
The tests are being carried out in New Zealand and Australia only, that too in some posts only. Also, the so called dislike button could also be disappointing for many as the present iteration is depicted using a downward pointed arrow. Instead, a thumbs-down image would have been far more convincing.
A thumbs-down image would also have been far more appropriate in portraying a post as disapproving, much as the like button allows the user to depict a post as approving. The dislike button however is expected to serve the purpose nonetheless, as the same would prevent the site from getting highlighted if it records too many dislikes.
Facebook meanwhile is faced with the unique dilemma with the dislike button. It somehow chose a different path by introducing Reactions which opens up different emoticons depicting the feeling a particular post might invoke among users. Those range from downright laughter to those that make one angry.
However, Reactions somewhat nullified the purpose as even an angry Reaction still counted as a response to a given post. And the more response a post generated, more was its change of ranking higher up in the timeline, defeating the very purpose of dealing adversely with negative or bad posts and comments.
However, it will be interesting to see how the down-vote or dislike, whichever way you look at it, behaves in reality.
