When will it be appropriate to use Facebook’s dislike button?
After Mark Zuckerberg's announcement on Tuesday that Facebook was developing a "dislike" button, the level of excitement has varied between the network's billion-plus users.
Many were excited about the announcement, while others pointed to the possibility of misuse — including harassment and cyberbullying. Many took to a post on Zuckerberg's Facebook page to show disapproval of the idea, while others fought back saying the matter was trivial.
Whether or not the theoretical thumbs down will be used for good or evil, other concerns revolved around its accepted usage. Zuckerberg said the button will be intended to boost engagement, and not a way to boost negativity.
So when will it be OK to use it?
Death of a person or pet
Right now, when a friend or family member posts about a person or pet's death, if you don't make a comment to acknowledge it or express your sympathies, you have to hit the "like" button. By now, most know that doesn't mean you actually enjoyed the death of someone, but more of a "I understand what you're going through." Dislike could be used to mean, "I dislike that this happened and I'm sorry."
Announcing an illness
Similar to the death conundrum, if someone posts about having the flu, or, unfortunately, something even more serious, a "like" can be misinterpreted. A dislike can express your hope for the poster to get better.
Day-to-day problems
A photo of a flat tire, a post about a fender bender or even a spilled coffee — your friends and family will take to Facebook to complain about many of the day's problems, and instead of commenting, "oh, that's the worst" or, "that just happened to me, too," you can just hit the dislike button and continue scrolling through posts.
Shared news articles
Hundreds of millions of people share all sorts of news articles ranging from breaking local news, political malfeasance and upsetting national news. Instead of expressing your feelings in the comments, you would be able to just click or touch the dislike button to say, "I saw this and don't like it for whatever reason."
Tagged pictures
Very rarely is someone tagged in a photo they approve of, and while the memory might be worthwhile, if you don't like how you look in the photo or disapprove of its posting on a public social network for all to see, before you untag yourself, just hit the dislike button to tell the poster you would have prefered to keep the photo private.
Of course, with all of these, a consistent worry expressed online about the dislike button is misinterpretation. If you dislike a post about your friend's dog dying, maybe they think you meant you disliked that they posted it, and not that you feel bad about their dog dying. If someone shares a political outrage article with an additional comment, maybe the poster will think you reject their opinion, and the list goes on.
There is the possibility that Facebook's algorithm will make the usage more clear, but for now, users will have to speculate and in the future, possibly take careful consideration before tapping "dislike."
Contact Kristen DeSilva at kdesilva@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @kristendesilva
