Facebook started testing a new feature that’s ‘downvote’ on comments of users in order to make feedback easier. Before going any further, it must be noted that this is not the much-desired ‘dislike’ or ‘thumbs-down’ button!
Besides the buttons ‘like’ and ‘reply,’ a handful of users are as well seeing the ‘downvote’ button below the comments of Facebook posts. Clicking on it will open a list of reporting options: Offensive, Misleading, and Off Topic. The aim to make it easier for users to provide feedback is thus evident and expresses the seriousness of the social media platform’s intention to keep its contents qualitative as per social standards.
This was reported by users on Twitter, and Facebook confirmed yesterday late (February 8) that it is a brief test of comment moderation across a ‘small set’ of English-speaking Android users.
We are not testing a dislike button. We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts. This is running for a small set of people in the US only. – Spokesperson of the company.
The ‘like’ button was introduced by the social media giant in 2009 to let users express their approval of content published on the platform. However, the chance to express the opposite is yet to come, although a ‘dislike’ button has been on the wishlist of users worldwide for almost a decade now. In a similar context, in 2016, Facebook came up with ‘reactions,’ further letting users be expressive on posts.
All these have been parts of user reactions to the content. The new ‘downvote’, on the other hand, is rather to provide feedback to Facebook regarding whether the respective content is offensive, misleading or simply off-topic or irrelevant. Facebook further ensures that users don’t get to see how many people downvoted a comment.
Speaking of new features, Facebook has also started testing on another option called ‘choose friends to tag’ in comments. This was reported by Matt Navarra, Director of Social Media at TheNextWeb on Twitter, who also provided a screenshot of the options. Facebook didn’t disclose any further detail on this.
On an inferring note, it was officially revealed that the social media company hasn’t planned to expand the ‘downvote’ feature. Share in the comments with us your opinion on the ‘downvote’ option. Would you upvote Facebook for its expansion or downvote the entire idea?
