Last week, Facebook made the news all over the internet as it announced plans of putting up the 'dislike' button. The intended purpose for the experimental feature is to express sympathy and acknowledgement to events and posts regarding death, separation etc. Of course, putting those things up on Facebook should not come as a surprise since the site is the perfect venue for the news-of-me.
But while the intention appears to be all for good, not a few see the potential of the 'dislike' feature to turn Facebook into a less friendly place for netizens. Even Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged the possible consequences of putting up a 'dislike' button saying, “You don’t want to go through the process of sharing some moment that was important to you during your day and have someone down-vote it."
The Facebook team has expressed that it just wants people to be able to use the new button to show sympathy over the platform. And, as writer Ethan Gilsdorf of Cognoscenti pointed out, clicking on buttons does not enable people to express the full range of human emotions. By letting users evaluate others' posts in a downright positive and negative way, the end result may turn Facebook into a "meaner, uglier place."
Facebook used to lean towards the idea of rating posts with stars or putting yes or no buttons. Instead, in 2009, it opted to make the 'like' button a part of the site. That the number of likes is already being seen as a basis to measure self-esteem is a cause for dismay, and Gilsdorf suggests an unlikely solution, "to prevent Facebook users from being able to weigh in on each other’s content at all." To avoid risks of amplifying bullying over the platform, Facebook and social networking sites, in general, may do well to consider this. And users are equally responsible for utilizing their means to express themselves.
