Facebook is going to introduce a new feature that you always longed for, “A Down Vote Button” that is sort of a Dislike Button that will allow the users to downvote comments in the public posts. As reported by The Guardian, “This feature is currently in its testing phase that is only limited to users in Australia and NewZealand”.
This feature is basically introduced to express dislike for certain comments that are displayed to the users. Just like the upvote and downvote arrows that are available for Reddit, you will now be able to upvote and downvote a comment that is added to a public post while the like button is still available as before.
“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. To the end, we are 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”. A Facebook spokesperson stated in a conversation with TechCrunch.
According to the spokesperson, it is not certain that the features will be rolled out in this form. As the feature is in early test stage and no decision has been made regarding rolling it out for Facebook’s 2.2 Billion users. The final decision will be made if the users find the new feature as productive.
The ranking of a comment will be calculated according to the votes it gets, the comment that has received more upvotes will appear higher below the original post. As a comment gets more downvotes it will be moved down in the comments section. While this feature is still in the testing phase so it is not available on individual status and it has been introduced to improve the quality of public discussions on the platform.
Facebook has emphasized on the fact that it is not actually a dislike button but it seems like it is going to be used in a similar manner. Facebook wants the downvote button to highlight a comment as a “bad comment”. While according to Facebook, a bad comment is a comment that has bad intentions or that is disrespectful. You can also use the upvote button that signifies comments that are helpful or insightful.
Facebook users from Australia and New Zealand have reported that a small window appears explaining the new feature when a user hovers over a comment on a public post. It has not been clearly stated that how long the testing phases will last but users from all over the world are hopeful that they will soon have the feature on their accounts.
Source: TechCrunch, Guardian
