Social media has never been more relevant. The ever-growing social labyrinth of platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other applications has become a part of our everyday lives. Over the course of the evolution of social media, a consistency in the designs of these platforms is the removal of the dislike feature. Why is this the case? Let’s look at the implications of these changes.
The impact of the ‘dislike’ feature.
It is common knowledge that when content is uploaded to social media, the viewers of said content are given the option to like, share, and give their opinions on the content in the form of a comment. However, it is commonplace for platforms to exclude the ‘dislike’ feature from these options. Instagram, for example, does not include such a feature and nor does TikTok. One must ask why this is the case, as these are two of the biggest social media platforms in the world. The ability to dislike a post would usually inform the uploader, but more importantly, the algorithm, that the user does not care for certain types of content. Whilst this has a social aspect to it, it is ultimately for the platform to decide what kind of content to feed you, in order for you to spend more time on the application. However, with the popularity of short-form content like TikTok videos and Instagram Reels, there are now new ways for the algorithm to understand your preferences without the need for a dislike feature.
What is the new equivalent of a ‘dislike’?
Doom-scrolling is a neologism that refers to the act of a person scrolling for long periods of time on apps that feature short-form video content. Due to the popularity of these kinds of videos, the applications must rely on your attention span to acquire data. These apps will log how much time a user spends on a video before scrolling, whether the user finishes the video and how, or if, you interact with it. They will then use this information to categorize your preferences in content. It is because of this that the ability to dislike content has become relatively obsolete. However, there are still platforms like YouTube, that allow a user to dislike videos.
Why do some applications still use the feature?
With regards to social media platforms, the dislike feature can be looked at as having two main purposes:
- To mold one’s algorithm to one’s own preference.
- To send a message to the uploader of the content with some kind of negative connotation.
Whilst YouTube does allow users to dislike videos, it no longer publicly shows the number of dislikes a video has received, whereas the number of likes can be viewed by everyone. When a person views a video with an unbiased view, a high number of dislikes may influence that person’s perspective on the media and cause the person to disregard the video. This ultimately leads to less traffic for the website, which means less monetary gain for the company. This gives the user the illusion that disliking a piece of media that they either don’t appreciate or don’t agree with has an effect.
Final thoughts
Whilst the dislike feature has essentially become irrelevant, there are still many ways that people can share their opinions on social media without the use of this feature. Social media is advancing rapidly, and it is unlikely that it will stop any time soon. As this media changes so does the approach that companies take towards further monetizing and popularizing these applications.
