Facebook released its plans for an “alternative to the like button” Tuesday. Upon hearing the news, I was ready to hit a dislike button — really, Zuckerberg, a dislike button? I could not believe that a man credited with globally uniting people was actually going to give his audience an option to tear one another apart.
In my mind, while social media has always had its downfalls, it is still a platform for acceptance and unification. A true “dislike” button opposes Facebook’s original, and so widely accepted concept: that we "like" each other.
See More: Facebook dislike button fills my heart with dislike
However, I was pleasantly surprised when I learned of Facebook’s true intention of inventing the “dislike” button. First and foremost, it is not yet determined if it will actually be called “the dislike button.” Facebook does not want to give its users an outlet to hate one another, but instead — to empathize with each other.
Zuckerberg claims he is looking to fulfill requests dating back to Facebook’s origin by creating this button, and he is excited to finally be working on it. However, he intends for the button to be used in those really awkward circumstances when “liking” a post just does not feel appropriate. Consider this: you see a photo of a funeral, with RIP DAD written as the caption: do you actually like that your best friend’s father has died? Probably not. Or when you see the news reports on random mass murders, doesn’t clicking that like button seem a little inappropriate?
This new feature is intended to more accurately represent the way people feel when they observe tragedy on their newsfeeds. Maybe they will call it the “I’m sorry” button, or the “that seriously sucks” button; but Zuckerberg is avoiding the idea that misuse of the feature could come about.
There are certainly some Facebook users who would love to shut their annoying coworkers up with one fell click, some of us who would love to “dislike” the circulating photos of burning American flags, or plenty of people who would love to reject equal-rights posts: but this invention is not for them.
Truthfully, this button introduces an incredibly simple means of comforting one another, without having to publicly profess our love and sympathy for them. Now users do not have to question whether or not their friend actually "likes" that they’re getting divorced, or if they are purely acknowledging their pain.
Encouraging outward empathy via social media also breaks down traditional barriers when it comes to what is “okay” to post. You will no longer have to consider if your post is “too personal,” because it’s official — people can, and probably will, show that they truly care.
Zuckerberg may be introducing a revolutionary tool that could potentially increase both usage and comfort on his site. So long as Facebook’s intentions of encouraging empathy, and not hate, among their users is successful, the implication of the (insert phrase here) button just widens the levels in which we can connect with one another — so thank you, Facebook, for clarifying all of our awkward interactions.
Reach the columnist at krpenningroth@gmail.com or follow @KPenningroth on Twitter.
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Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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