Thumbs-down… or up? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed during the company's Q&A session on Tuesday, Sept. 15, that the social media network is in the process of rolling out a "Dislike" button after countless requests from users.
"I think people have asked about the dislike button for many years," Zuckerberg, 31, said at the company's headquarters. "Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we’re working on it and shipping it."
However, Zuckerberg noted that the network didn't want to model itself after Reddit, which allows users to vote stories up or down based on content. "That isn’t what we’re here to build in the world," the CEO told reporters.
He said the use of a "dislike" button would be for sad posts — deaths, crises, and other negative everyday life situations faced by its users. The expectant dad surprised many fans after he opened up recently about his wife Priscilla Chan's fertility struggles in their pregnancy announcement.
"What they really want is the ability to express empathy," Zuckerberg said Tuesday of creating the functionality. "Not every moment is a good moment."
He also shared that it's been in the development stages for some time. The company previously decided against building the button — despite complaints from users — because it didn't want to evoke negative reactions.
"It’s surprisingly complicated to make an interaction that will be simple," he revealed of the process.
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