To Like or Not to Like: Facebook’s Proposed New Button

Does the button offer more nuanced emotional expression or meaningless clicking?

Mark Zuckerberg is talking about introducing a dislike button on Facebook. He describes the intention behind it as creating an appropriate positive response when the concept of "liking" doesn't fit or is too superficial or flippant.  In other words, we don’t want to "like" a post about loss or hardship, but we might want to express concern and support.  To date, this has been done in comments, not with a button.
The implications of a dislike button (or whatever it is ultimately called) are layered. First, how will Facebook users react and click?  Second, how will the marketers figure out what the consumers are actually doing so they know how to adjust their ad strategies?

What's In It for Users?

The ability to express emotions to what other people post matters to users.

• The new button gives people an additional way of expressing empathy for others—this makes them feel more connected.  Expressing connection—whether liking or with solidarity—is an exchange of social capital that creates a psychological bond.
• Even the simple act of clicking increases engagement.  To click or not to click? Taking action demands a thought process necessary to generate an action.  We think, therefore we're in.  People do not thoughtlessly or routinely like (nor will they dislike) every post.  Now they have to think in a more nuanced way than just Like or nothing.  The new button makes it a question of “what kind of emotion do I feel?” On the other hand, the human brain is lazy.  For issues with marginal personal relevance, the increased cognitive burden of deciding may eliminate a click altogether.
• Expressing emotional experiences and getting feedback from others can be validating.  In the case of grieving, it can help someone make sense out of hardship and to begin to frame it in a way that facilitates grieving and meaning.  Having support from friends can turn challenges into positive growth opportunities because even the simple click by others demonstrates social capital that exists in spite of whatever is going on.  In the case of a cause or belief, social validation and affiliation normalizes and strengthens commitment.

There are potential downsides.  For example:

• If the button is culturally appropriated, no matter what it says on its label, and used as a sign of rejection or "dislike" rather than a message of "support in bad times".  Therefore, naming the button is important, i.e. whether it says something like “I hear you” or is more negatively positioned.  I’m sure this naming challenge is on Facebook’s radar.  The actual (rather than intended) use is a crucial factor as people are biologically responsive to being liked or disliked.  Being disliked is more impactful because, from an evolutionary perspective, it raises our concerns of attack and abandonment—both threaten our physical and psychic survival.
• Receiving validation for negative emotions might increase the chance that someone with depressive tendencies or with excessive reliance on external validation would ruminate rather than move forward.

The introduction of another emotion button will add to existing concerns that many people have about the prevalence across society of superficial responses to meaningful events and relational slacktivism.  I don’t worry about this.  The ability to make a simple response that is less emotional opens up the response field to those who are less closely connected to the person who posted.  People who don’t know you are unlikely to post a comment and, if they do, comments from strangers feel awkward.   However, having people acknowledge a loss, hardship or difficulty at more of a distance is in keeping with offline social norms yet it still means they took a moment to think about the person or the situation.  People who are close—by traditional definitions—will still respond with a message that is more personal, just as they would offline.

What Does It Mean for Marketers?

The big opportunities around the ability to like without sounding too happy about it are for nonprofits and social causes looking for support for serious issues, such as domestic violence, drug abuse or sex trafficking, things where “liking” is inappropriate or subject to tacky or antisocial interpretation; some people have been expressing support by liking, but this will open the door for much wider support.  Visible support increases opportunities for fundraising and advertising by extending audience reach and increasing audience commitment through the validation of affiliation.
Marketers will be faced with yet another psychological conundrum:  How will the introduction of the “dislike” button impact the use of the “like” button?  There is an unspoken assumption that the new button will open the floodgates to new opinion-sharers.  But it’s entirely possible that the new button will mostly shift some amount of Likers to Dislikers.  This puts a new subjective spin on data gathering.  A dislike might be a like or it might not.  Advertisers must now establish the relative value of a like vs. dislike by evaluating the subjective context. Given the "halo effect" of emotions on brands, it’s important to know what you’re measuring.