Get real Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook's dislike button is too late

Facebook is now trying to catch up, because the social network has changed dramatically since it first crashed onto our screens 11 years ago.

Facebook's dislike button is just another reason for lazy people to scream into the digital void, writes Emma Barnett


How do you show your disdain for something? Or register your firm agreement with an issue that matters a lot to you?

A few of you will still put pen to paper. Others will call somebody, depending on your proximity to the issue. And others still might take to the streets if the matter warrants public protest or similar.


But these days, more often than not, most people will simply resort to a tweet, a Facebook “like” or some other piece of digital ephemera. And then that’s it. Case closed. You’ve done your bit.

Just in case you were feeling constrained by the digital choices on offer, however, Facebook wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg has got something up his sleeve. He is hoping to bring some nuance to the internet with a new “dislike” button on Facebook.

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It’s not expected to be called “dislike”, as the young multi-billionaire says he doesn’t want to encourage people to be mean to each other (has he actually been on the internet lately?). Instead, he wants to develop a button to help people “express empathy”.

Well, one billion Facebook users are waiting – fingers primed. Mr Zuckerberg has known of the “like” button’s limited range for years but seemingly it’s been too tough a nut to crack. Two years ago, a developer let slip that the company was working on a “sympathise” button but nothing materialised.

The Scottish referendum was the most discussed topic on Facebook last year EPA

Facebook is now trying to catch up, because the social network has changed dramatically since it first crashed onto our screens 11 years ago. No longer solely somewhere its members post drunken photos, humble brags and cute photos of their family, it’s morphing into a political beast.

One look at the site’s most talked about topics from 2014 proves what a fight club the behemoth has become: the Scottish referendum and the Gaza conflict. My Facebook feed really wasn’t a healthy place to hang out last year. I looked at some of my chums in a whole new light.

And that’s just it. By unleashing a “dislike” button into the mix, Mr Zuckerberg is only going toxify an increasingly fractious atmosphere among “friends”.



While people having rows could make the social network more addictive for some, it also fuels another depressing and unhealthy trend: armchair activism – better known as slacktivism.

I asked you at the beginning of this column how you make your voice heard – properly heard. For all too many a ‘’dislike button” will offer another illusion of action, and yet it couldn’t be further from the truth. All it really proffers is just another distraction from the real world and the means to shout into a digital echo chamber.

The protesters, aged 25 and 31, grabbed microphones and shouted feminist slogans in French and Arabic Ruptly/
Yesterday morning, I spoke to one of the impassioned leaders of Femen, the topless feminist protest group, currently making headlines after two of their activists stormed the stage of an Islamic conference in Paris. Femen’s approach is divisive, for sure. But no one could accuse these women of resting on their laurels. Ironically, they found out about the event on Facebook after people began voicing their disquiet about some speakers.

But instead of reaching for a digital button – they put their phones down and did something about it offline. How many of us can truly say the same?