海角大神

This holiday season, Facebook has hinted at a gift for its users 鈥� a little negativity.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tempted the masses on Thursday in a live question-and-answer session, hinting that while a 鈥渄islike鈥� button was not in the company鈥檚 future, Facebook may soon allow for more forms of expression than a simple 鈥渓ike.鈥�

Many Facebook users have advocated for the feature since the 鈥渓ike鈥� button was introduced in 2009.聽Countless petitions, as well as buttons, T-shirts, and many, many Facebook groups, have advocated for a thumbs-down on the popular social networking site.

Users say the 鈥渄islike鈥� button would make some virtual social situations less awkward.

Announcing a death in the family or disappointing career news, for example, might be appropriate times to 鈥渄islike鈥� a post to express sympathy or regret.

鈥淪ome people have asked for a dislike button because they want to be able to say, 鈥楾hat thing isn鈥檛 good,鈥欌�� Zuckerberg said in Thursday鈥檚 question-and-answer session, according to TechCrunch.

A 2013聽BuzzFeed post sponsored by Virgin Mobile introduced the idea that a 鈥渄islike鈥� button would cause users to think before they post. The post listed foot-in-mouth or oversharing statuses (鈥淎void tears while chopping onions by trying not to think about how lonely you are,鈥� reads one) and says that 鈥渟ome of the things people say just need a thumbs down.鈥�

Other users, however, treat the 鈥渓ike鈥� button as a recommendation, and when asking for feedback from friends, a 鈥渄islike鈥� would help them understand their friends鈥� opinions, according to CNN. (Notably, on many Facebook business pages, users can see their friends鈥� ranking of the displayed products, from one to five stars.)

While users can comment on most posts 鈥� allowing for a wide range of responses 鈥� Zuckerberg notes that the simplicity of the 鈥渓ike鈥� button is part of its appeal.聽

鈥淵ou know if you鈥檙e commenting, a lot of the time you feel like you have to have something witty to say or add to the conversation,鈥� he said on Thursday.

But ultimately, a 鈥渄islike鈥� button would not be 鈥済ood for the world,鈥� Zuckerberg said Thursday.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there needs to be a voting mechanism about whether posts are good or bad. I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 socially very valuable or good for the community to help people share the important moments in their lives,鈥� he said.

This wasn鈥檛 the first time Facebook officials squashed 鈥渄islike鈥� dreams.

Bob Baldwin, a Facebook product engineer, answered questions on Reddit back in 2013, Slate reported. Then, he said that the core purpose of Facebook differed from an easy way to express 鈥渄islike.鈥�