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Facebook To Test Out "Dislike" Button

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Millions of us use Facebook almost daily.

We like to post everything from pictures to status updates, and if we're honest with each other, we kinda like getting "Likes" on our posts.

But now, Facebook is unveiling something users have been asking for for a while, a "Dislike" button. And even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is cautioning people on how to use it.

It's become a popular site to stay connected with friends and family.

People post pictures, stories, events, and many of those posts get "Likes." But for a while now, users have been asking for a "Dislike" button.

"It's sort of weird when somebody has a tragedy and then everybody likes that because they can't really respond to it in any other way," says Justin Humphreys of Shadyside.

Earlier this week, Zuckerberg said he's heard the requests for a "Dislike" button and something is in the works.

Facebook users, at this coffee shop in Shadyside, say they aren't crazy about the idea.

"I don't like that," says Jani Singer. "I think its mean, I think it's mean-spirited for me, you know, I think if you don't like something it tends to imply you dislike it."

Zuckerberg says it won't be a "Dislike" button exactly. He says it will be something people can click on, mostly to show empathy.

"A friend of mine at home just posted that her mother passed away yesterday and there was one like and lots of comments, those are the kinds of things that you actually use your words to express what you want to tell your friend or whomever," says Singer.

Jamie Rivers, a therapist, agrees that in many situations, there needs to be more than a click of a button to show like or dislike.

"I don't think one word expresses a response to something as tragic as a hurricane or a natural disaster," says Rivers, of Fox Chapel.

Zuckerberg says his team has been working on an idea for some time now. And they will be ready to test it out soon. Depending on how that goes, that idea will be rolled out more broadly.

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