Rant #1,513: "You Dislike Me, You Really Dislike Me"

Facebook announced yesterday that it would soon be testing a way for its users to "dislike" the content of posts made by other users, much like it allows one to "like" a post.

Mark Zuckerberg, the head of the company, said that Facebook would be looking into this after users have, for several years now, demanded such an ability to post a dislike as much as a like.

I guess it is going to be something like the "thumb's up" and "thumb's down" that other sites use, such as Yahoo, where you can grade a story or someone's post about a story that they run.

Bully for Facebook. As much as I like a lot of the posts directed at me, there are numerous posts that I dislike, so if a poster puts up something idiotic, I guess that soon I will have the right to knock it down to size.

This application will probably take the zing out of the zingers we all have put up when we have disapproved of a post and an opinion expressed on the social media network.

This way, I assume, will be a bit safer. You just click on the dislike button, and unless you want to elaborate on why you dislike something--which I will probably do, not every time, but sometimes when I have a strong negative feeling about something--you are done.

This had to be coming.

Why only be able to express pleasure at a post, and not displeasure?

Every post cannot be to your liking, and this way, you can voice your opinion, one way or another, without getting into expansive and explosive arguments with your "friends."

Not everybody agrees on everything on Facebook, even among "friends."

It could be sports, it could be politics, it could be religion, but why can you only "like" something, but have to elaborate when you dislike something that has been posted?

Evidently, Zuckerberg said that the network's billion users have been asking for this ability, and now, users are going to get it, sometime in the future.

I welcome this ability. It will certainly cut down on nonsensical arguments, but it certainly won't stop them.

Facebook has become a necessary evil for me.

I promote this site on Facebook, I have a couple of Facebook sites that I run, and I have used it to get together, electronically, with old friends.

And yes, as you know, it has led to countless face to face reunions, too.

But on the other hand, I have expressed my opinions on Facebook, which have riled a lot of people.

So be it.

But allowing someone to "dislike" something that I have said will make things more copacetic, I think.

And I imagine it will make Facebook friendlier, which is probably Zuckerberg's ultimate goal.

But like I said earlier, it isn't going to fully stop people from voicing their opinions, but it will give others the ability to "dislike" something, and then move on.

Good idea.