There used to be a time when you would see a poor (for one reason or the other) status update/ other content on Facebook, and all you could do was walk past it. Well, we are talking in the past tense because all that could change very soon.
The social media giant has stepped up the game to ensure users get the best experience on the application by testing out a new ‘Downvote’ feature. If you have been using the ‘Like’ feature for a while, think of this as the opposite. Apparently, users would now be able to use this feature to flag contents they don’t find appealing and not have to see such content anymore.
Facebook has however stated that this is not to be taken as a dislike button. Instead,
We [Facebook] are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts.
It is not sure if the feature would be made available to everyone as it is also said that it “is running for a small set of people in the US only.” Depending on how successful the test is, the feature may or may not become mainstream.
What makes the ‘Downvote’ button more than a dislike button, as said, is that it also allows for feedback on why the user finds that content inappropriate. You could have taken action based on the content being misleading, offensive, off-topic or for other reasons. From what we have seen, it is not possible to determine whether Facebook will allow you type another reason for the downvote.
This will be a very useful tool in controlling poor content on the social media platform. Don’t get too excited though because if it does roll out to everyone, it would be abused. The only upside would be making sure the advantages outweighs the disadvantages.
