Facebook engineer reveals 'sympathise' button

The existence of the button was tested internally as a more fitting reaction to sad news on the site, but there are no plans to introduce it 'yet'

Facebook has long rejected the idea of adding a ‘dislike’ button to its social network, but recent reports suggest that a ‘sympathise’ button might be a more likely scenario.

The hypothetical addition would help users to react more appropriately when friends or family share news that is sad or distressing - news to which a hearty ‘like’ seems a sarcastic or spiteful reaction.

The possibility of a ‘sympathise’ button was suggested during one of the company’s “compassion research days”.

During these members of the public and interested researchers are encouraged to “improve [Facebook’s] understanding of the driving forces and benefits of compassion" by suggesting changes or improvements to the site.

Facebook engineer Dan Muriello revealed during a Q&A that the ‘sympathise’ button had been created for an internal project but that there were no plans to release it to the world at large.

The button had been created at a hackathon “a while back” to replace the ‘like’ option entirely, and that the proposed changes would offer Facebook users the option to add ‘sympathise’ button to their statuses by using a special tag.

“A lot of people were very excited. But we made a decision that it was not exactly the right time to launch that product. Yet,” said Muriello.

Facebook’s hackathons are a regular source of new features for the social network, with Facebook Chat and Timeline profile pages both emerging from such events. Even the ‘like’ button itself emerged from such an event.

The button was first introduced in 2010 but has quickly become one of the site’s most recognisable and enduring brands. The ‘like’ button, like the @ sign, has become one of the staple icons of the internet, and is viewed more than 22 billion times daily across more than 7.5 million websites.

In November this year the button got its first ever makeover, with Facebook choosing to replace the ‘thumbs up’ icon with a stylised ‘F’. The new design took around 6 months to complete, with Facebook stressing that the universality of the button is something that needs to be taken into consideration.

The removal of the ‘thumbs up’ sign might have had something to do with the varied ways with which the gesture is interpreted by different cultures.

Although it has positive (and occasionally sarcastic) connotations in Western cultures, in certain Muslim communities and in parts of South America and West Africa the ‘thumbs up’ sign is roughly translated as ‘up yours’.

Ellen E Jones: Facebook's new ‘sympathise’ button wouldn't get a ‘like’ from me