Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Q&A session Thursday that he has been thinking about adding a "dislike" button on Facebook, CNET reports.
The move, if it comes to fruition, will finally provide users of the world's largest social network with another way to voice their opinions regarding posts and comments.
Zuckerberg, however, said the "dislike" button, if ever, would not be added to allow people to voice displeasure, but rather to give a way for users to respond to "unhappy things like a death in the family or a personal struggle."
The Facebook CEO made these statements during a public Q&A session at Facebook headquarters, which was available to view through live-streaming. Asked whether or not there has been any discussion of a "dislike" button, Zuckerberg had this to say:
"You know we're thinking about it, on the Dislike button. It's an interesting question, right, because there are two things that it can mean. Some people have asked for a Dislike button because they want to be able to say 'That thing isn't good'. And that's not something that we think is good for the world. So we're not going to build that. I don't think there needs to be a voting mechanism about whether posts are good or bad."
"You know a lot of times people share things on Facebook that are sad moments in their lives, or are tough cultural or social things and often people tell us that they don't feel comfortable pressing Like because Like isn't the appropriate sentiment," he adds.
"So one of the things that we've had some dialogue about internally and that we've thought about for quite a while is what's the right way to make it so people can easily express a broader range of emotions to empathize or to express surprise or laughter or any of these things."
Zuckerberg was also asked about why usernames cannot be changed on Facebook, to which he replied: "We limit each person to having just one username so they can be found more easily. The username is less important than the fact that on Facebook, people use their real names. There's more accountability if you're connected to your real name."
