Mark Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday that Facebook is working on a “dislike” button intended to be used to express empathy for sad or depressing statuses.
In a townhall-styled Q&A at the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Zuckerberg told the tech crowd his team has been working on a new feature that will be called a “dislike,” “I’m sorry,” or “interesting” button.
According to Zuckerberg, Facebook users want a feature that goes beyond just a “like,” saying certain statuses warrant an empathetic or negative emotion.
“People have asked about the ‘dislike’ button for many years,” Zuckerberg said. “Today is the day that I actually get to say we are working on it.”
The Facebook founder revealed that it was a long and difficult process to create the new component, but is now ready to be tested. The biggest concern for the social media company is the button needs to be limited to sad statuses that evoke sympathy — not all statuses. (RELATED: Sheriff’s Organization Demands Facebook Remove Anti-Law Enforcement Pages)
“What they really want is an ability to express empathy,” Zuckerberg said. “If you’re expressing something sad… it may not feel comfortable to ‘like’ that post, but your friends and people want to be able to express that they understand.”
Zuckerberg did not say when the button will be implemented on the site.