Facebook doesn’t need dislike button
Dislike aka thumbs down is a button that a lot of Facebook users want. The reasons are different. Some want it because they want to use it to “thumbs down” stupid posts. Some want it to show that they dislike something, such as a minor accident that a friend had.
Some want it because there are Facebook posts on which the Like button doesn’t work. For example, your friend’s cat died on the weekend and she posted a sad status update. Of course, you don’t want to like that.
A dislike button will definitely solve a lot a lot of these issues where the like button doesn’t work. But yet, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is right. It is also a button that is not appropriate for a website like Facebook.
A "dislike button" will create more issues than it will solve.
Like is an emotion that is, well, very likeable. It is mild, brings a smile to people’s faces, and connects people, even when it it has been reduced to a virtual button. Dislike, however, is a very strong emotion. It is also a rather complex emotion. You wield it in a wrong way and it will wreck relationships, even the virtual ones.
Zuckerberg nails it when he says, “There’s something that’s just so simple about the "like" button... but giving people more ways of expressing more emotions would be powerful…We need to figure out the right way to do it (complex emotions) so it ends up being a force for good, not a force for bad and demeaning the posts that people are putting out there.”
Facebook is just a website, although one that has become a permanent facet of many people’s lives. But it is not the real world. It is not life itself. When people talk about their thoughts and Facebook they need to keep this in mind. Facebook serves a purpose. It is not meant to be a mirror to the society or your personal diary — though many people use it as such — where you can spill all your intimate thoughts. Instead, it is meant to be a communication tool that is not as interpersonal as, say a phone call, but is more social that allows people to stay in touch and form communities. On such a website, why would someone need a dislike button?
It is time we need to stop clamouring for the dislike button.
For a lot of people just clicking a button — to "like" or to put a smiley in the message — has become a way of saying and expressing things. for simple emotions and simple moments it works. But let’s not turn the complex moments of the life into a Facebook popularity or unpopularity contests. If you see someone posting a status update that says his mother is ill, don’t go look out for the dislike button. Instead, pick up the phone and talk to that person because an actual talk, an act of reaching out to someone in the hour of need, is what makes us friends and acquaintances. Clicking the "like" or "dislike button" is a very lazy way of expressing yourself.
Now, it is possible that in this age of smileys and buttons, empathy and talking face-to-face may be an alien concept to some. If that is the case, then exercise some common sense. There are moments in life when you don’t have to "like" or "dislike" something. In such moments, if you can’t do anything else, just stay silent. That is more than enough.