Facebook Downvote option being tested
It’s the dawn of a Facebook Downvote button, possibly.
The thought of a ‘dislike’ button on Facebook has been around since the birth of the ‘like’ button. As with everything in life, we strive for a balance between positive and negative.
The dislike option, called Downvote is currently being tested by a select number of users in the US to better gage if this new feature will work.
This is not the first time that a dislike option has been explored by the social media giant. A sort of dislike option has been tested for many years, but has never seen the light of user testing until now.
Throwing a dislike option out there isn’t as ‘willy nilly’ as it appears. Essentially it will be giving keyboard warriors a new kind of ammunition they can use on the internet battlefield.
It’s all about feedback…
A spokesperson told Daily Beast that the new Facebook downvote function is NOT a “dislike button” but rather a feature that will allow users to give more specific feedback.
“We are not testing a dislike button. We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts. This is running for a small set of people in the U.S. only.”
The new feature allows users to downrank certain comments, which could push unwanted or offensive content to the bottom of the comment feed.
In 2016 Facebook explored a dislike option but rejected the idea because of fears about a backlash. According to Bloomberg, the dislike button “had been rejected on the grounds that it would sow too much negativity”.
Although the prospect has moved to user testing, it is still unclear whether the Facebook Downvote button will see a wider release.
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