This may control Facebook in ways that we never dreamed of….

Facebook released new information on its planned integration of a dislike button into user posts today and it will likely be greeted with ambivalence. It appears that the dislike button will not just be for show, but will in fact be functional, effecting any post that reaches a certain threshold of dislikes received. The number being bandied around by Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook developers at the moment is ten dislikes, and receiving ten dislikes on your post will result in Facebook’s algorithms removing the post as being potentially disruptive and upsetting to fellow users.

“Facebook is about connections and bringing people together,” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said regarding the upcoming changes, “and creating a space where people can interact in a safe and respectful manner. Occasionally our users are subjected to things that they find upsetting, are objectionable, and violate the community standards. Currently the mechanism we have in place to deal with this issue is the report option and function. It allows us to remove objectionable material, but requires us to maintain a large workforce to process post reports at great expense. It is also both cumbersome and slow. Many inappropriate and hurtful posts can remain up for extended periods of time before a moderator is able to examine the material of the post and remove it if necessary.”

Read more at USA Today