It has been in the works for a while now, but Facebook is finally coming out with a "dislike" button. In an article on Gizmodo, the pros and cons of the dislike button are explained and it makes me wonder what the reason was for Facebook to change their mind about adding the feature. Facebook has always said they don't want a dislike button because it promotes too much of a negative image. "You don't want to go through the process of sharing a moment that's important to you.. and then have someone down-vote it. That isn't what we're here to build in the world" said Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. I agree with Zuckerberg here because adding in that "like/dislike" element sort of copies the app, YikYak. YikYak is an app with anonymous posts and when you post something, people that see will either up-voted on it and promote that post to other users, or it can be down-voted and be less popular among the media. Facebook pretty much invented the "like" button and with it, its popularity took off. The Gizmodo article credits the changing age demographic for the acceptance of the dislike button. The majority of the traffic and audience on Facebook today are adults. The chart below is a from the article on Gizmodo. It shows a large portion of the adults online use Facebook, as opposed to the other mediums such as Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. So even though all these old people are using Facebook, what does this have to do with the dislike button. Zuckerberg notes that times are changing for Facebook and the general audience and users of Facebook are parents and grandparents, not vulnerable teens talking about high school gossip. I would agree, more news related posts and current events is what I see on my Facebook Timeline than the social media content I find on Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram.
I thought this was a very interesting move for Facebook like many others. You mentioned how they have always said they were not going to promote the "dislike" because that is not what they are about. I think it is funny that all of the sudden when there is a demand from your consumer for something you all of the sudden become about it. Facebook has done well in years past, but lately has hit a bit of a stalemate. I am looking forward to seeing what this new addition does for the company.
ReplyDeleteCase,
ReplyDeleteAt first I didn't really care whether Facebook were going to go along and develop the "dislike" button, but now I do. I feel that the dislike button is a nicer way of expressing how you feel about a post, rather than a rude or unnecessary comment.