Mark Zuckerberg dislikes the idea of a dislike button, but he said today that Facebook is close to testing another way for people to express shorthand emotions within the social network.
The founder and CEO made the announcement during a Townhall Q&A at the company’s Menlo Park headquarters, answering a question that has been very frequently asked over the years. “I think hundreds of people have asked about it,” Zuckerberg said. “Today is a special today because today is the day where I actually get to say we are working on it and are very close to shipping a test of it.”
Zuckerberg gave no specifics about what the button or buttons would be called, but said there won’t be an unlike button, reiterating his oft stated opinion that he doesn’t want to create a situation where people are downvoting other people’s posts. The motive for the new feature is to give people a way to express empathy, he said.
“Not every moment is a good moment and if you are sharing something that is sad, like the refugee crisis that touches you, or a family member passed away, it may not feel comfortable to like that post,” he said. “But your friends and people want to be able to express that they understand and that they relate to you. So I do think it’s imprtant to give people more options than just like as a quick way to emote and share what they are feeling on a post.”
“We have been working on this for a while. It’s surprisingly complicated to make an interaction that you want to be that simple. We have an idea that we think we’re going to be ready to test soon. And depending on how it does, we’ll roll it out more broadly.”
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