Facebook's 'downvote button' test expands to more locations

[midian182]

While we’re unlikely to ever see a dedicated ‘dislike’ button on Facebook, the social network did start testing a Reddit-style ‘downvote’ button on five percent of US Android users earlier this year. It appears that the trial is proving successful, as it’s being rolled out to more people in other locations.

Several Facebook users in Australia and New Zealand tweeted their surprise at seeing the up and down arrows appearing next to certain comments. As with the US tests, these only show up on public Page posts, not on posts from Groups, public figures, or general users.

Hmmmm. Not sure I like the Upvote and Downvote feature of Facebook. Time will tell I guess. pic.twitter.com/hxvjW7HaTX

— BEN SLATER (@iambenslater) April 29, 2018

Facebook wants the upvote option to be used for comments that are helpful or insightful, while the downvote button is for “bad comments” that have “bad intentions or [are] disrespectful.” The company has previously stressed that this isn’t a dislike button, but “a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts.” There’s little doubt, however, that it will also be used as a way of showing disagreement toward a post.

Does Facebook now have some kind of upvote/downvote system? Never seen this before pic.twitter.com/ysscCMq2Mi

— ashslay (@ashsparkle) April 29, 2018

Facebook has confirmed the downvote/upvote system’s expansion. "People have told us they would like to see better public discussions on Facebook, and want spaces where people with different opinions can have more constructive dialogue," a Facebook spokesperson said.

"To that end, we're running a small test in New Zealand which allows people to upvote or downvote comments on public Page posts. Our hope is that this feature will make it easier for us to create such spaces, by ranking the comments that readers believe deserve to rank highest, rather than the comments that get the strongest emotional reaction."

While the statement only mentions New Zealand, CNET has confirmed the downvote button’s appearance on certain public pages created in Australia, and, as is the case with the US tests, only in the mobile app. Don’t be surprised to see the system roll out to more users over time.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/74376-facebook-downvote-button-test-expands-more-locations.html

 

[Burty117]

It should have been there from the start, putting it in after adding a billion users to your site is going to be tough. Lots of people won't agree with it and make their voices heard nice and loudly so the majority of people who either don't care or are for it, get cast aside.

 

[Uncle Al]

I would like to see a general thumbs up/down on Zuk and have his position in the company determined by the vote .... to be monitored and reported by a disinterested party with no affiliation with fakebook .....

 

[DelJo63]

Hmm; imo, should be extended to techspot as LIKE vs DISLIKE :grin:

 

[Burty117]

Hmm; imo, should be extended to techspot as LIKE vs DISLIKE :grin:

Techspot censors a lot more than Facebook does, I wouldn't be surprised if these comments get deleted just for discussing the topic of Techspots Censoring. It's why I only really comment on news articles these days and not active in the forum's, I like the way Techspot is laid out and I like the articles and reviews (Steve) but some of the moderators on here are far too extreme, they'll delete even the most polite arguments I've ever seen on a tech website.

 

[DelJo63]

@Burty117 After several years of participation here, IMO censorship is quite small. I would organize the forums differently, but the comments are almost Wild Wild West in lots of strongly worded descent is tolerated.

Instead of moderator editing/censoring, the concept of DISLIKE would allow community voting on content, but that might embarrass some contributors and staff.

 

[p51d007]

Oh this will be fun watching the media, snowflakes and what not say that someone is downvoting
them, hurting their feelings, needing safe space, bullying yada yada yada.
You know what is going to happen though...it will end up being similar to what happened
on Digg.com...spamming, and what not to downvote certain people, sites etc, and upvote
others.

 

[DaveBG]

They are slow to implement the most wanted feature yet they are fast to sell your data at will. Disgusting fake news company.