Facebook is attempting to take over the internet with their “Like” buttons which allows people to share with (Facebook, but that’s for another post) each other articles, blog posts, pictures, web pages and even articles of clothing that they like.  There is no “dislike” button yet even though there are about 2900 results for “dislike button” on Facebook alone including an application to add a “dislike” button to your own page.

Sites like Digg.com have always allowed you to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to an article but those thumbs down would usually come from boredom as opposed to actual dislike of the article.  The way Facebook is using the “like” feature is a little different.  If they added dislike buttons everywhere that “like” buttons are found, it could cause a lot of heat online.  It would get discouraging if a company created a page to all of a sudden, find more “dislikes” than “likes”.  Now, a company can boast that they have thousands of “likes” on their Facebook page but things may be a little different if it had just as many “dislikes”.  It may even be an interesting experiment to add the dislike button because it would get more people involved on each page and open up many new conversations.  It can give companies a chance to convince their “dislikers” to become “likers”, after all, some of the best raving fans are made from angry customers who are appeased by the store.

Personally, I am all for a “dislike” button or option.  It will let companies and people be honest with themselves, sometimes brutally honest.  It will be a way to crowd source criticism which can help companies and people improve at a much faster pace.  At the same time, it could cause damage because one person telling you that they didn’t like your article or product is bad enough but thousands of people telling you the same could leave a mark.  Just imagine the damage that one “dislike” from Ashton Kutcher, Ellen or Oprah could do to a company.  On that note, I am also a believer that most people are good and will mostly use the “dislike” button appropriately.

What are your thoughts?  Would you “like” a “dislike” button?  Feel free to “like” this post by clicking the button above/below and if you would like to “dislike” it, keep checking back for the button but in the meanwhile, let me know in the comments.