Your Facebook experience is getting a “Dislike” button, though it’s not really an actual button. Nor is it called “Dislike.” However, it is a step towards allowing users to express their distaste for certain comments. That’s because the “dislike button” is actually a downvote option similar to what’s currently available on Reddit. And it only works with comments, not actual posts.
Going forward, you’ll be able to upvote and downvote comments made on Facebook, just like on Reddit. On Reddit, however, you can also upvote and downvote a post. You’ll still be able to Like a comment just as you do now, and you’ll be able to see how it’s all laid out in the screenshots below.
While it’s visible to everyone when you like a post or comment on Facebook, upvoting or downvoting a comment will be totally anonymous — well, Facebook will know, but not your friends or the total strangers who’re involved in the conversation. Facebook has been testing the feature for a while now, and it’s finally rolling out to more users, The Next Web reports. You might see it soon in your account, though there’s no telling exactly when people will gain access to the new feature.
Facebook, except it's basically Reddit pic.twitter.com/kMpss61gjR
— Owen Williams ⚡ (@ow) April 29, 2018
The company has made the feature widely available in Australia and New Zealand for the time being, in what appears to be some sort of advanced-stage test.
Hmmmm. Not sure I like the Upvote and Downvote feature of Facebook. Time will tell I guess. pic.twitter.com/hxvjW7HaTX
— iambenslater (@iambenslater) April 29, 2018
By enabling upvote and downvote buttons, Facebook is apparently looking to empower users to police the social network. Flagging bad comments might be something that improves Facebook in time. It certainly seems like it’s part of Facebook’s objective of pushing content to your feed that results in meaningful interactions. Let’s just hope that people don’t abuse the feature, or use it to simply downvote things they disagree with. OK fine, that’s exactly how it’s going to be used and we all know it.
