Facebook Begin Trial Of New ‘Downvote’ Feature

Facebook Gives Us the Thumbs Down?

It’s a feature that has both been talked (and joked) about for years, but it finally might be happening. Yes, Facebook is testing a downvote or even potentially a ‘thumbs down’ system for posts on the social media site.

Facebook, however, has been very keen to stress that this isn’t going to be a ‘dislike’ feature.

This isn’t a Dislike!

In a report via the BBC, Facebook is trialling what it calls a ‘downvote’ feature. “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.”

Attempting to create a similar system to Reddit, it would appear that the social media site is hoping to give users a hand in promoting or scaling back posts.

How will the system work?

The report suggests that when the ‘downvote’ button is clicked, the comment is hidden from their feed. People will, however, be given the additional option of flagging it as either offensive, misleading or off-topic based on the subject page.

What do we think?

Personally, I think this system is doomed from the start. Facebook has enough problems without allowing users, particularly the more toxic variety, to spread their unique brand of attention seeking.

Yes, it could work, and in a limited set of circumstances, it could actually be rather useful. I just can not help but feel that the many will spoil this for the few.

What do you think? Is this new feature a good idea? Would you use it? Think it is open to misuse? – Let us know in the comments!

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