Zuckerberg Nixes Facebook 'Dislike' Option, Adds Call-To-Action Buttons

• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 12, 2014

Suggesting that the world is negative enough, Mark Zuckerberg just shot down the likelihood of Facebook adding a “dislike” button.

“I don’t think that’s socially very valuable or good for the community to help people share the important moments in their lives,” Facebook’s founder and CEO said during a town hall discussion on Thursday. “We’re not going to build that.”

Yet Facebook is very interested in giving users new ways to express themselves, because, as Zuckerberg said on Thursday,  “there are more sentiments that people want to express than just positivity.”

For instance, “a lot of times people share things that are sad in their lives, or are tough cultural or social things, and often people tell us they don’t feel comfortable pressing 'like'," Zuckerberg explained.

Despite a lot of internal dialogue, Zuckerberg said Facebook isn’t quite ready to roll out reaction buttons that allow users to “empathize, or express surprise or laughter,” but the company is moving in that direction.

For now, Facebook is rolling out some new call-to-action features, which are designed to help Page owners drive specific business objectives. They include “Shop Now, “Book Now,” “Contact Us,” “Sign Up,” “Use App,” “Play Game,” and “Watch Video.”

In the coming weeks, Page administrations should be able to select from these new call-to-action buttons to add to the top of their Page.

In recent tests, Facebook said the new buttons have been a boon for merchants. Over the course of a three-week test, for example, a Sign Up button on Dollar Shave Club’s Page delivered a 250% higher conversion rate versus other comparable social placements.

With its new call-to-action features — and possibly some new sentiment buttons — Facebook is fighting for increased engagement in the face of slowing growth.    

In fact, the proportion of the U.S. Internet population who reported visiting a social network at least once a week dipped from 56% in September 2013 to 54% in October 2014, according to new findings from British telecom regulator Ofcom. Over the same period, the proportion edged up among U.S. mobile Internet users — from 67% to 69% — but the increase failed to offset the proportional decline among desktop users.