Even though I’ve been using social networking for aeons now, it was only recently that I noticed an aspect that hadn’t quite struck me before.
What struck me was the fact that Facebook has consciously chosen to keep only the Like button whereas YouTube has both the Like and Dislike buttons.
I know what you’re thinking – this comparison isn’t quite fair as YouTube is an openly public sharing site with no sense of a user’s network, whereas Facebook’s entire construct is based on the user and his/her network of immediate friends.
Fair enough, but the point I’m making is not that.
At first glance, you might just attribute the presence of only the Like button to a choice that Facebook has made and leave it at that, but it’s important to note that it’s a choice that has avoided larger ramifications.
By consciously choosing to stay on the positive side of public opinion, Facebook or its users don’t have to deal with trolling, public backlashes and negativity that could (and would) surround some of the opinions/comments/videos being shared on Facebook.
Today, if some people don’t like what you post on Facebook, chances are, they’d ignore it. The worst thing that they could do is leave a negative comment, or block/report you (which most people would refrain from doing as you are part of their friends’ circle in the first place).
Compare that to the Dislikes left on YouTube, with racist/sexist/or worse comments being made for/against commenters, and you realize that there is a world of difference in the experience of reviewing user-driven content on both communities.
What most people don’t realize is this –
– the fact that Facebook is providing its users with tools that let them operate only between the spectrums of indifference (0) and positivity (+), makes Facebooking a more positive experience compared to even reality in the real world.
And that could be one of the reasons for the stickiness that you find in Facebook users compared to those of most other social networks.