For most, Facebook has been a sanctuary for people to
post personal political opinions and memorials for departed loved ones; for
many corporations, however, it has become a center of data analysis and a way
to help develop an integral relationship with customers. Since the founding of
Facebook, users have had limited options on how they can interact with other
people’s posts to commenting, sharing or, and arguably the most important to
the corporations, liking. The ability to like a post or not may soon be rivaled
for a top spot option, however. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said in a NY
Times article that he is “very
close to shipping a test” of a dislike button for posts on
Facebook. Since the announcement of this possibility last December in a
Q&A, social media has been in a frenzy to see how big of an impact this
addition will have. A relatively small option that, in all reality, has the
potential to revolutionize how Facebook functions, especially how it is
utilized by corporations in terms of marketing and research.
Up
until now, many companies who wish to use Facebook as a way to connect with
potential customers to see real reactions to their business have had to run an
algorithm looking for words holding a negative or positive connotation.
Although this can produce accurate results, there are many ways in which the
data can potentially get skewed or large options can get lost. For an example
of a possible problem with the current method, one need not look very far. If
people do not comment with their opinions, which more casual Facebook users may
not, the corporation has no clue what that person is thinking. I believe,
however, by adding the new “dislike” button, corporations can come out from the
shadows and openly campaign and test to see how their potential customers react
in a more real time situation. Instead of search through long dialogue on the
packaging, Amazon.com can easily say, “Are you
satisfied with our current packaging standards based on your purchases ‘like’
for yes or ‘dislike’ for no.” Simple, yet effective.
Although,
as Debra Aho Williams, a social media researcher from eMarketer said, “[it’s] difficult to imagine a single button that could convey
the complex range of negative emotions someone might want to express in a
Facebook post” (Taylor). I still believe this is a major game changer.
Corporations can now introduce a new product to their customers and at a click
of a button they can vote if they like it or not. Giving this second option can
turn a regular Facebook post into a poll, now corporations can find out the
percentage of people who like/dislike the new proposal and comments can be used
as notes to help explain the data. Not to mention, now even users who are still generally satisfied with the company can ‘dislike’ certain aspects making it
easier for the company to improve.
Taylor, Michael. “Mark Zuckerberg
Talks About Possible Dislike Button.” YouTube.
YouTube, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 17 Sept. 2015
Goel, Vindu. "Coming Soon to Facebook: A ‘Dislike’ Button." NY Times [New York, NY] 16 Sept. 2015, NewYork:
B1. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
<http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/15/coming-soon-to-facebook-a-dislike-button/>.
There are many times on facebook I wish I could dislike something, and I would be a huge supporter of a dislike button, but am interested in how the button will work. The button could have use a feature like that of Yik Yak, which removes a post after 5 dislikes, but this could infringe on a person's freedom of press. Or will the dislike button work like along the lines of hiding a post? Either way there are many roads this button could take, but it could be avoided completely if you just commented why you do not like something for start.
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