Thumbs up became practically a synonym of Facebook. Elegantly simple method of letting others know that you approve of given content appeared online for the first time ever on Zuckerberg’s social website*, from where it quickly spreaded to dozens other social portals. Thumbs up quickly became a norm, but what about thumbs down? About showing that, for a change, we do not approve of content given?

Well, it looks like Facebook is working on something like that.

Some of the American Facebook users have just received a new option called downvote. It is not thumbs down as such, although it does perform a somewhat similiar function – somewhat, but not really. It is similiar, if not exacly the same as, reddit’s downvoting, where downvoting the post will push it lower down the list of posts, where fewer people will see it. This is most probably another of FB’s attempts to fight with recent waves of negative content like fake news or trolling, although I bet it could easily be used to fight against people with other views, e.g. political.

The only real thumbs down button exists right now in Messenger, only in private conversations. Facebook has confirmed that it will not be bringing this feature into its main service anytime soon. Personally I do not understand why. Is FB afraid of people getting sad and angry over being disliked? Facebook can already be a den of vitriol and depression, simple thumbs down button will not change anything. Let us know what you think!

*at least I think so! Let me know if I am wrong.