New Facebook button will be more an ’empathy’ than a ‘dislike’ one

How many times have you seen Facebook users ‘like’ a sad post such as a funeral announcement? Too many times right? It doesn’t mean the ‘likers‘ are happy at the demise of someone they know, it most often means they feel for you.

Enter the Facebook ‘Empathy’ button. The social media giant is working to create an empathy button in addition to its ‘Like’, ‘Comment‘ or ‘Share’ options to help users get their message across much better, without making them appear as sadists for ‘liking’ depressing updates.

In a Q & A session yesterday (15th September, 2015) Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg said, “People have asked about the ‘dislike’ button for many years, and probably hundreds of people have asked about this, and today is a special day because today is the day that I actually get to say we are working on it, and are very close to shipping a test of it.” 

There are some concerns being expressed by users that the button may be abused by cyberbullies, disliking even nice pictures of other people and messing with their self-esteem, practically using the button to spread negativity even when unnecessary. We hope users will be able to restrain themselves from abusing it.