For more than six years, every Facebook status, photo, or page has had a little “Like” button hovering next to it. Want to show your approval? Click that button.
But not everything in the world is meant to be approved. And—nearly since the “Like” button first saw the light of day—users have clamored for an “Unlike” button. Now, they may be getting their wish.
On Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s founder and CEO, told an internal corporate Town Hall that Facebook would soon be rolling out the feature.
“I think people have asked about the dislike button for many years,” Zuckerberg said, according to Re/Code and Business Insider. “Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we’re working on it and shipping it.”
Am excited.
Baud
I assume that with the BJ site redesign, we will have only a dislike button.
Central Planning
From below: I could don’t care.
Walker
This is bad reporting that buries the lede.
They are not rolling out a dislike button. They are rolling out a “I feel sympathy for this bad situation in which it would be inappropriate to like” button.
tybee
@Walker:
damn.
MazeDancer
The purpose of the “dislike” or “empathy” button, as Zuckerberg has called it, is the same as everything that FB does: invade privacy to sell even more refined data to corporations.
This info is to help FB better know how to serve users up to advertisers. Gives them another data point to sell.
Baud
@Central Planning:
Nice. I hope that sticks. We need to get Trump to use it. Then it’ll go viral.
schrodinger's cat
I don’t get the fascination of FB. Why bother to dislike when you can ignore.
PlanetPundit (used to be Sir Laffs-a-Lot)
John needs a “OMG THURSTON!!!!!”button. It would wear out in a week.
Gin & Tonic
“Shipping it?” From where and to whom? How is it packaged? How many units per container?
Fuck you, Zuckerberg, for fucking with the English language.
benw
@schrodinger’s cat:
Ha ha, welcome to Balloon Juice!
JPL
John, What’s up with Thurston? Has he gone to his forever home?
rikyrah
I turn on MSNBC. Another PHUCKING Trump rally.
JPL
@rikyrah: It was his foreign policy speech so there was a lot of coverage.
The word great was used a lot.
PeakVT
Obligatory “What’s Facebook?” comment.
I’ve never seen the trade-off between utility and privacy as worthwhile, but then again I am an anti-social old fart.
ETA: The ability to express displeasure tempts me, natch.
FlyingToaster
I still don’t have a Facebook account — if they want me to volunteer my info, they can give me the chance to PAY THEM FOR AN ACCOUNT where I control the information.
Otherwise, they can’t see all the cool DoctorWhooves shit I printed out for WarriorGirl’s 8th birthday today. Or the Dalek piñata I’m building tomorrow.
Pfeh!
Central Planning
@Baud: Yeah, that would be great. Needs to be part of the tag line rotation.
raven
I use Facebook all the time. So what?
mdblanche
@Walker: Well, that does still fill a need.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I dislike your comment.
Matt McIrvin
Real dislike buttons (that is, ones that you can use to downvote things past zero, not just cancel your own upvote) lead to bad drama and abuse. That’s pretty well established.
BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL:
Ain’t that great?
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: I’ve been posting a pic of my hikes on my page. Right now there’s a pic of a rattlesnake.
raven
A good friend died last week. If not for Facebook the wide range of people that supported her and her family throughout her brain cancer would not have happened.
mdblanche
@Gin & Tonic: There’s glory for you!
grishaxxx
Too bad it seems a feint; it would be pure anthracite to have. How about a lump of Cole for the icon – a real hommage! <3
jl
@Baud:
” I assume that with the BJ site redesign, we will have only a dislike button. ”
I was thinking more like an auto-punch-in-the-neck feature.
SatanicPanic
I guess there wasn’t enough petty drama on FB already
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: Skullfuck a kitten button or GTFO.
Althea
Jon Hamm and his wife are splitting. I feel terrible. ;p
Woodrowfan
@Matt McIrvin: Amen. It’ll start like/dislike wars on anything political with people freeping the post.
M. Bouffant
I used to have a rubber stamp that read BULLSHIT. Whoever invents a digital equivalent that can be stamped on every damn page on the iNternet will be an instant billionaire & deserve the world’s unending gratitude.
JPL
@Althea: They weren’t married but I still understand where you are coming from.
benw
@jl:
That’ll add some drama to the “Google Chrome would like to know your location.” pop-up window!
rikyrah
@Althea:
18 years is a long time
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: We don’t need a button here. We have vicious invective.
Mandalay
One less disgusting, racist pig in the Seattle Police Department today.
The fact that the cop warned the victim that the incident was being videotaped (even though she was the one behaving like a psychofuck asshole) shows just how secure she felt about her own misbehavior.
From her disciplinary report:
Sweet.
Citizen_X
@FlyingToaster: Well damn, I want to see a Dalek piñata.
NotMax
Facebook. Is that old thing still around?
*yawn*
Heliopause
So, why didn’t some dorm-room-masturbator simply start a social network site with nothing but dislike buttons? Or did that happen and not get noticed?
NotMax
@Heliopause
Buttbook never found its legs some reason.
:)
FlyingToaster
@Citizen_X: How to Make a Dalek Piñata
Note: I’m using a balloon and paper mache for the dome, but otherwise, after my pilgimage to the party store tomorrow for crepe, we’re all set. I’m recycling old easter eggs (in many colors) for the dalek. My daughter saw the Dollar Tree plunger and was told to look at a dalek to figure out why I bought it.
I’m also making red bow-tie napkins.
seaboogie
@raven: Around here (Sonoma and Napa counties), FB is a wonderful forum for lost and found animals around the Valley fire that erupted catastrophically and with little warning. Folks had to flee with practically nothing, sometimes not even their pets if they couldn’t grab them quickly enough. Very rural area with livestock and such. Those folks just opened the gates to their paddocks and pens so that the animals could try to escape on their own.
Already seeing some reuniting of horses with owners and such. FB is not just for your asshole relatives to spout off on some political BS, good community things happen too. Here is a link to this outpouring of communal support that is happening. Almost as good as kittens:
https://www.facebook.com/Lost-and-found-animals-of-the-Valley-Fire-526667037490573/timeline/
ThresherK (GPad)
@benw: I am just tired enough to mis-read that post. On the first pass, I saw:
-Why bother to dislike what you can ignore? and…
-Welcome to Bobby Jindal!
Peale
I guess I’ve never been confused that “likes” for bad news mean “I support you” or “condolences” not “hot damn, your mom died.”
mai naem mobile
So Wall Street is soiling its underwear at the prospect of Trumpy being the GOP candidate. I can’t dislike that. The rubes may.have just woken up and noticed Wall Street doesn’t give a shit about gay rights or abortion. They just give a shit about how big the pie grows for them, as Dubbya would say.
Andrey
@Gin & Tonic: Sorry, but “shipping” is a standard software industry term. The rest of your questions have answers too, in that context. It’s shipped from staging to production; it’s definitely packaged in some way (there’s a bunch of different package manager systems; Facebook might even use a custom one); and the number of units per container depends on the deployment solution – they might be using virtualization, but I doubt they have any reason to.
NotMax
@ThresherK
Worst. Theme park. Ever.
Roger Moore
@Central Planning:
I figure it’s going to become a standard part of the Balloon-Juice lexicon, also, too.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: I could don’t care if it does or doesn’t.
mdblanche
@mai naem mobile: This calls for a popcorn button.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: I like and usually admire you, but I’m just fed up with the bullying of and picking on Tommy. FFS, what did he ever do to you? If you don’t care to read his comments, just scroll on past. He’s not a troll and he’s not a stalker. There are plenty of people who comment on this blog who are way more worthy of your mocking.
NotMax
What Balloon Juice sorely lacks is a Mingobat button!
Yatsuno
@FlyingToaster:
I think I love you.
MomSense
@mdblanche:
We need that before tomorrow night.
MomSense
@FlyingToaster:
Dalek pinata!!! Awesome. The kids can say “exterminate” as they try to smash it.
NotMax
@MomSense
For the
debateall-you-can-bleat buffet being served up on the TV, presumably.HR Progressive
I don’t want an “Empathy” button, I want a “You posted a fucking dumb conspiracy theory / right wing meme and I want to show my disapproval of it without using any words” button.
I couldn’t give a fuck less if my RW friends do the same to my left leaning stuff. Let ’em.
Sounds like if something needs fucking up, Zuckerberg to the Shitmobile.
NotMax
@HR Progressive
More colloquially, a “What a maroon!” button.
/Looney Tunes homage
MomSense
@NotMax:
I don’t know if I have another debate in me. So much stupid behind every podium.
seaboogie
@MomSense: That would be a most excellent button – and we are in the middle of a site re-design – how timely!
Roger Moore
@M. Bouffant:
We have ones at work that say “WTF” and “I don’t give a shit”, and we bought one for our Director of Quality Systems that says “RTFSOP”. Rubber stamps are awesome.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodinger’s cat:
Sent you an appropriate email.
mdblanche
@Corner Stone: Tommy is this blog’s Rose Nylund.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone:
I call bullshit.
NotMax
@MomSense
For some, seeing 10 pair of pants and one skirt spontaneously catch fire* might prove somewhat entertaining.
*If only the world were so just.
Corner Stone
@mdblanche: More appropriately, this blog has acquired a couple of useless ass moral scolds in the absence of a Hall Monitor.
And I, for one, am not down to give one single solitary fuck about them if they want to try it on.
Peale
“We’re gonna make our military so big and so strong and so great,” he told a captivated crowd. “It will be so powerful that I don’t think we’re ever going to have to use it. Nobody’s going to mess with us.”
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: Completely agreed.
MomSense
@NotMax:
Would be great especially if they were running around bumping into each other, knocking over the podiums, and setting off the sprinkler system. Can’t you picture all the makeup oozing down their faces?
Omnes Omnibus
@MomSense: There would a danger of seeing their junk. Do.Not.Want.
jl
@mai naem mobile:
” Wall Street,,,, just give[s] a shit about how big the pie grows for them, as Dubbya would say. ”
Or “You have to let the big dogs eat” as Jeb? the smarter one said.
I hope that comes back to haunt him.
Roger Moore
@MomSense:
I was sort of hoping for a replay of the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
On the other hand, any who dress to the left would be automatically eliminated from contention.
;)
MomSense
@Omnes Omnibus:
What is it with B-J and the junk imagery? I don’t even want to see the tighty whities and you know there’s one in the bunch who goes commando. I’m betting it’s Trump. After all he’s even more military than people in the military.
Need brain bleach.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@HR Progressive: You are the person I want designing social media. I would love to have exactly that button.
Botsplainer
@rikyrah:
When one of your friends says “oh, you just now realized she was cheating on you with some guy from Australia who was pretty much pounding her cervix? I’ve assumed that for a few years now – it made no sense for her to go there as much as she did”, you realize that 25 years is a fuck of a long time.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: Ew.
MomSense
@Roger Moore:
Or Wizard of Oz. “I’m melting”
benw
@Peale:
No, he didn’t. Really? That’s got to be a joke. The only thing that worries me is that if it is a joke you’d have added a YOOGE. Please tell me it’s a joke.
Omnes Omnibus
@Botsplainer: WTF?
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
The whole reason I got on Facebook in the first place is because a dear friend had died and a lot of his friends didn’t know how to contact me. I was basically guilted into it, but I end up using it a fair amount.
NotMax
@benw
Not a joke. Rachel ran the clip.
MomSense
@Botsplainer:
Damn. I’m really sorry.
Botsplainer
@Omnes Omnibus:
Issues. I vacillate.
RandomMonster
@Andrey:
You made the same point I was going to make. While it might be more precise if software developers called it “publishing” rather than “shipping”, people use that language all the time, probably just from historical precedence I’m guessing. All language is metaphor-driven anyway. When we say “compile” these days, it’s not like there are a bunch of punchcards in a backroom being sorted in some way…
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone:
That sounds familiar.
Omnes Omnibus
@Botsplainer: Aha, sorry, man.
Mike E
@NotMax: You’re too cool. For the internet!
Corner Stone
@Botsplainer: Welp.
Botsplainer
@MomSense:
Hey, it’s living the fantasy. She gets to enjoy the best of things and hang out with adventuresome, lithe men who never balance their check books or squabble with the insurance company in her presence, all while I’m around to reliably take care of the shit while enduring complaints and demands.
Clearly, I’m uninteresting.
Botsplainer
@Corner Stone:
You predicted it. Ages ago.
Eric U.
I like facebook. I tell them a lot less than I tell google. I wish the consarned republicans I know would stop trolling it with their stupid fucking right-wing propaganda
Corner Stone
@SiubhanDuinne: I think you mean, “That sounds stupid and bullshit and fuck you.”
Corner Stone
@Botsplainer: Nah, man. That sucks and I hate it for you. We disagree on a lot of inconsequential BS but that is just not cool.
I’m going through a lot of legal issues with my ex right now and I’d beg someone to bring it back down right now, if I could.
Sometimes life comes at you fucking fast.
Peale
@benw: indeed he did. I can actually see the Chinese opening up the Art of War now, chuckling.
Mike E
@Corner Stone: It gets better, eventually. It did for me…like a light switch went off all of a sudden, thank the many and various gods.
MomSense
@Botsplainer:
One person’s uninteresting is another’s “catch”. Don’t put yourself down. For some people middle age is terrifying as they deal with aging, mortality, identity without kids. Escape is a powerful drug. You have a lot to offer.
benw
@NotMax: @Peale: Christ. Well, at least Trump is being treated as a fringe candidate who says totally batshit-crazy things that will never, ever, get him close to the presidency.
Corner Stone
@SiubhanDuinne: In case I was not being clear, I don’t say this often (enough), but fuck off.
Botsplainer
@MomSense:
I’m making genuine efforts on salvaging this, but there are a lot of slings and arrows the past few years, and this is the dingleberry on top of the shit sundae.
Honestly, I can live with the sex. What I can’t abide is the smug superiority, enforced prudery on me, alienation of social networks and gratuitous sniping that has been gutting me, all while something more than a fling was up.
I’ve busted my ass on making stuff painless, stay active, travel with her, SCUBA dive with her, dine with her, dance with her, make myself available to help with work AND take care of all bills and housework. I like to think I’m interesting, but it doesn’t show.
Omnes Omnibus
@Botsplainer: I do not know the details of your situation, but, when my marriage broke up, knowing when to simply walk away was invaluable. With your practice, you know this. Talk to someone. Do you have a law partner in the same area of practice? Have the conversation.
Aleta
@Botsplainer: Sorry for your pain, coming from so many directions over the months now. It’s beyond cruelty.
yet another jeff
@RandomMonster:
No no no no…fuck all y’all…I want to imagine trucks at the warehouse, being loaded up with the dislike buttons, carrying them off to the internet tube station for distribution…
different-church-lady
Facebook is already a hellhole of conflict, so what could possibly go wrong with having a new, official way of expressing it?
different-church-lady
Oh, and by the way: Zuckerberg is a sadist, and he does not have your best interests at heart. The only reason he would put a dislike button on his stupid toy is because he knows it will make you even more anxious than you are now.
Dude is an anxiety-monger. The more wound up you are, the happier he is.
RK
You’re amped about a Facebook “dislike” button? No wonder Thurston tears your shit up.
seaboogie
@Botsplainer: Sounds like a good time for you to cut bait. No matter how financially poor this leaves you, at least you will be clear of she who brings you down so low, and will eventually be restored to yourself, and feel good about yourself once again.
Then, if you can possibly afford it, find a good therapist for the inevitable anger. Ask around, and you might be surprised how many of your friends have possible good references. When I was at my lowest of lows, relationship-wise, I found the perfect one.
For reasons that I will not iterate, my last relationship (with a good man, who introduced me to Balloon Juice) left the both of us feeling some amalgam of what you are experiencing. It was the worst experience of my life, and also cathartic and finally healing, some four years later.
If you take care of yourself, eventually the hamster will get off the wheel of your mind, and just build a quiet nest in the corner, leaving you in peace.
ruemara
@Botsplainer: I’m sorry. And you are interesting. Your wife is simply unworthy of you. Maybe she will be, but for right now, she’s betrayed you, hurt you and it damned sure isn’t your fault because if she didn’t want you, she should have the grace to stand up, say so and both of you could just move on. Cheating on you is a sign that she’s not worth your pain.
Whatever happens, I wish you grace and strength and supportive friends.You didn’t deserve this.
Eugene
Bad means good these days anyway.
tom
The Like button is overrun by bots and slave labor farmers (paid slaves to like content and push revenue) which means Facebook’s advertising algorithms aren’t worth anything anymore, introduce a new variable and they can squeak another 5 years out of their business model.
J R in WV
@Botsplainer:
Sorry to hear of the continuing problems with your partner. For like years now?
I second the walk away comment above, but FIRST get a great family practice lawyer, for your own protection. Then walk away.
If you are really interested in trying to salvage the situation, I think family therapy is one thing that can work if both parties are willing to work hard at it. But really, sounds like too late, really.
Best of luck. Take care of yourself!
Paul in KY
@Mandalay: Sorry it took so long. Hope the elderly gentleman sues the crap out of Seattle.
SWKELLOGG
@Heliopause: You obviously underestimate the dedication and focus of the typical dorm room masturbator.
Brandon
@RandomMonster: They use “shipping” because they like to pretend that making a little button on a webpage is the same as making an actual product. They think they are the new captains of industry and therefore are adopting jargon suited to manufacturing. Hell, maybe they are. But I just find it annoying. When adding a “dislike” is considered innovation, I would suggest that these folks have indeed lost the plot.