After users have waited for several years, Facebook will soon come out with a "dislike" button.
The purpose of the button will be to reinforce positivity, and some students at the University of Florida have expressed mixed reactions to the news.
Kyle Bell, a UF telecommunication sophomore, said he fears some will abuse the feature.
"While it would definitely have some implications that are practical for people who know how to use it," Bell, 19, said, "having a dislike button could also be used very badly by a lot of people."
Instead of being able to dislike a post, Bell said people should just use the comment section for more constructive criticism rather than pushing a button.
On the other hand, Andrew Selepak, the director of the social media Master’s program in UF College of Journalism and Communications, said he thinks the button will work effectively for users if done correctly.
Mark Zuckerberg said the sole purpose of the feature is to express empathy during a live question-and-answer session at Facebook’s headquarters in California Sept. 15.
It may not feel comfortable to "like" a person’s post if he or she is sharing something sad, whether it pertains to a personal matter or current events, said Zuckerberg, Facebook co-founder and CEO.
Selepak agreed and said the button would give people more options to show support and continue to be positive while doing so quickly and easily.
"Most of the time, if you’re posting something to Facebook, it’s going to be positive," he said. "We do this because we want to project a positive image of ourselves."
Even when users post something negative, they do so because they want others to support them and rebuild their ego, Selepak said.
Users have asked for a "dislike" button ever since the "like" button came out in 2009.
The company has held off on such a feature in order to avoid a Reddit-style system where upvoting and downvoting is the standard among users.
Paige Harris, an 18-year-old exploratory freshman, said she feels people would misuse the feature.
"If you get a lot of people that converge on one person’s status," she said, "it could almost be considered a form of cyber-bullying."
Selepak said he understands there could be people who abuse the "dislike" button, but he supports the company’s decision to want to include one in the future.
"Facebook is really into positive social change," he said, "whether you agree with it or not."
