The geeks at Facebook have just introduced new “Like” and “Share” buttons on their popular social media site, but there is still no “Unlike” or “Dislike” buttons on Facebook. Why not? Similarly, why is there is no -1 option (as opposed to +1) on Google Plus? (Youtube videos, by contrast, always have both the “thumbs-up” and “thumbs-down” icons.) This glaring omission is clearly not an engineering or design problem but rather a conscious decision by Facebook (and Google+) to “nudge” people away from expressions of negativity.
Also, why doesn’t Facebook or Google+ allow one to express the intensity of one’s expression of the “Like” or +1 preference (e.g., “Like A Lot” and “Like A Little” on Facebook or values ranging from +0.9 to +0.1 on Google Plus, with a value of +0.5 indicating total indifference)?
prior probability 
I have always asked myself the same question!
I’ve always considered the same question when I realized what Facebook was doing was actually an ingenious idea.
By only providing a simple “like” button it allows people to scroll through their news feed to quickly and quietly acknowledge a friend or relative’s post without having to spend the time writing a response as to why they liked it. It gives the person who made the initial post a sense of self-satisfaction for the recognition they received while allowing the person who “liked” the post to eloquently move on through their day providing this satisfaction with little to no effort at all.
An explanation as to why there is no “dislike” button, “Like a Little”, “Like a lot” button is because if someone finds one of their “friends” post compelling enough to warrant a response they are forced to “comment” on the post to give their opinion on that given post. More often than not, if someone is commenting on a post they are expressing something negative or contradictory to the post. (obviously this assumption would not apply to the generic “you look great” comments on photos posted by friends, it is merely a basis to consider).
Once one person makes a negative “comment” it warrants one of two responses: a removal by the initial poster or a stream of negative comments from the initial poster’s “friends” in response. The more frequent default seems to be a stream of negative comments from the initial poster’s “friends” responding for the protection of the initial poster. This instigates an all out “internet battle” where users respond back and forth until one feels they’ve proved their point adequately or they just grow tiresome of the pointless conversation.
When people spend long amounts of time defending themselves in these pointless internet battles Facebook inevitably earns money for the amount of time user spend using the social networking site. More time on the website, means more money for Facebook. More time on the website also means Facebook is acquiring more and more personal information about any given user. The more information they obtain, the faster they can pinpoint an individual in a consumer capacity. They use this personal information to formulate ads specific to the person using the profile. This creates temptations to buy pointless things, read pointless articles, or more importantly, waste precious time.
In short, an explanation as to why there is no “dislike” button on Facebook is money. Users feed into the negative energy a post can occasionally emit.and as a result they spend more time on the website feeling the need to defend themselves in a pointless internet battle. A “dislike” button would eliminate much of the “drama” that occurs on Facebook and therefore decrease website revenue and productivity. It doesn’t seem there will be a “dislike” button now or ever as long Facebook has anything to say about it.
Food for thought.
Hillary Kessler
I’d be willing to bet that Facebook doesn’t want it’s users to log on and then just get all bummed out when they see that half of their friends list doesn’t like what they post. If you have it sitting in front of you that your friends list doesn’t really care for what you post you’d be less likely to use Facebook. As far as having just a like it a little or like it a lot button? Just pull the trigger. Do you like it at all? Good. Just click the button. If not, just ignore it.
I would imagine that if Facebook were asked that question, they would respond by saying that a “thumbs down” or “dislike” button doesn’t exist because if you see a picture or comment, and don’t click the like button, you probably don’t like it or are indifferent to it. Putting a thumbs down is a way for someone to take a jab at another’s post it could possibly lead to the escalation of arguments and negative behavior.
Tyson Kutner
TK, I understand your point, but to the extent the “Like” button is really for advertisers (to know which ads and products people prefer), would not an “Unlike” button also provide valuable information to adverstisers?
JM, your argument is sound (some people will be bummed if someone “unlikes” one of their pics or status updates), but what about the people who are bummed because they can’t express their “unlike”?
HK, you are probably right that an “unlike” button might lead to escalating “Facebook” feuds, but to the extent people spend more time on Facebook, isn’t that good for Facebook?
So it’s ok that a post about 2 people getting killed on the motorway today is getting thumbs up posts because that’s the only response people can give! How stupid.
Key, because many people getting using to like without even reading . They get used to it