By now I am sure that pretty much anyone reading this has realized that Facebook has added new emojis to the usual “Like” button. The idea was to give people more options and perhaps even a more appropriate reaction to a post other than just “liking” it.
There are now five new ways to respond to what someone shares on Facebook: Love, Sad, Angry, Wow and Haha. Notably missing was the one reaction that a lot of people really wanted to see added: Dislike.
So why did Facebook decide against adding a Dislike button even though it was one people had been clamoring for? Simple. Bullying.
According to the Independent, Facebook representatives worried that “a dislike button was that it would be used to bully or upset people, downvoting their posts as a way of being cruel to the people.”
I think anyone who spends even a minimal amount of time on the Internet can understand why that worry is more than warranted.
As for why Facebook decided to add the five new emoji reaction buttons, Mark Zuckerberg had this to say…
“Not every moment you want to share is happy,” he wrote.
“Sometimes you want to share something sad or frustrating. Our community has been asking for a dislike button for years, but not because people want to tell friends they don’t like their posts.
“People wanted to express empathy and make it comfortable to share a wider range of emotions.”
Wow, Facebook, that actually makes sense. Good job?