Facebook Testing New Downvote Feature

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Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is testing out a new downvote button.

Facebook Testing New Downvote Feature

Source: Shutterstock

The new downvote button is available on certain public pages for about 5% of Android users. This button allows users to downvote a comment or post. Doing so hides the comment, but doesn’t show a change for the author of the comment.

When downvoting a comment on Facebook, the user will be able to chose the reason for the downvote. This includes the comment being Offensive, Misleading or Off Topic. This is somewhat similar to how users report a comment on FB after choosing to hide it.

Facebook wants to make sure that it is clear that the downvote button isn’t a dislike button. To do so, it isn’t letting users keep track of downvotes. This different from Reddit, which shows users the amount of upvotes or downvotes they have been given.

Facebook points out that there currently aren’t any plans to expand its tests of the downvote button. It also notes that the test is only available in the U.S. It’s unknown how well users will react to such a feature, but many have been requesting a “Dislike” button for year, reports TechCrunch.

The test of the downvote button may be part of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s resolution for 2018.  The founder of the social media platform said that his big goal in 2018 was to fix Facebook. He wants to do this by “protecting our community from abuse and hate” and “making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent.”

FB stock was up 1% as of Friday morning.

As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/02/facebook-testing-downvote-button/.

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