Facebook users for years have been demanding a ‘dislike’ button, however, instead of rolling out a dislike button, Facebook rolled out Reactions back in 2016. Reactions are a set of five different reaction buttons – Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry – that users can click on to show how they feel about a post or a comment. These buttons reside alongside the Like button. However, earlier in February this year, Facebook started testing a ‘downvote’ button. But at that time, this button was only available to 5% of Android users in the US. But now, Facebook has started rolling it out to more users.
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
Facebook’s downvote button is similar to the downvote button on Reddit. However, while Reddit users can use the downvote button to downvote both posts and comments, Facebook users are restricted to using the downvote button only to downvote the comments that are posted on public posts of Facebook Pages, and not the ones in group posts or a post from their friends.
Upvote and downvote comments on Facebook, when did this happen? pic.twitter.com/q9F7OcJ4R3
— Carter (@cwsbbb) April 29, 2018
With this downvote button, Facebook wants its users to identify and flag “bad comments” that are posted with “bad intentions” or are “disrespectful”. Having said that, it’s worth noting that this downvote button isn’t a dislike button which you can use to show your disagreement with something, just like the ‘Like’ button that is used to show appreciation or agreement with someone or something.
With that being said, the screenshots shared by users on Twitter show an upvote button as well along with what seems to be the upvote count sitting between the upvote and downvote button. You can also notice that the upvotes and reactions on comments are shown separately to avoid any confusion.
Facebook hasn’t yet announced the regions in which it’s rolling out this upvote and downvote button, but going by the tweets on Twitter, it seems that these buttons are currently being rolled out to users in Australia and New Zealand.
So, what are your thoughts on Facebook’s upvote/downvote buttons? Chime in with your opinion in the comments down below.
